raw

American  

[raw] / rɔ /

adjective

rawer, rawest

1. uncooked, as articles of food.

   a raw carrot.

2. not having undergone processes of preparing, dressing, finishing, refining, or manufacture.

   raw cotton.

   Synonyms:

   makeshift, rough, unprepared

3. unnaturally or painfully exposed, as flesh, by removal of the skin or natural integument.

4. painfully open, as a sore or wound.

5. crude in quality or character; not tempered or refined by art or taste.

   raw humor.

6. ignorant, inexperienced, or untrained.

   a raw recruit.

   Synonyms:

   unpracticed, unskilled, green, undisciplined

7. brutally or grossly frank.

   a raw portrayal of human passions.

8. brutally harsh or unfair.

   a raw deal; receiving raw treatment from his friends.

9. disagreeably damp and chilly, as the weather or air.

   a raw, foggy day at the beach.

   Synonyms:

   wet, cold

10. not diluted, as alcoholic spirits.

    raw whiskey.

    Synonyms:

    neat, straight

11. unprocessed or unevaluated.

    raw data.

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noun

1. a sore or irritated place, as on the flesh.

2. unrefined sugar, oil, etc.

idioms

1. in the raw,

   1. in the natural, uncultivated, or unrefined state.

      nature in the raw.

   2. Informal. in the nude; naked.

      sunbathing in the raw.

raw British  

/ rɔː /

adjective

1. (of food) not cooked

   raw onion

2. (prenominal) in an unfinished, natural, or unrefined state; not treated by manufacturing or other processes

   raw materials for making steel

   raw brick

3. (of an edge of material) unhemmed; liable to fray

4. (of the skin, a wound, etc) having the surface exposed or abraded, esp painfully

5. ignorant, inexperienced, or immature

   a raw recruit

6. (prenominal) not selected or modified

   raw statistics

7. frank or realistic

   a raw picture of the breakdown of a marriage

8. (of spirits) undiluted

9. coarse, vulgar, or obscene

10. recently done; fresh

    raw paintwork

11. (of the weather) harshly cold and damp

12. informal unfair; unjust (esp in the phrase a raw deal )

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noun

1. informal a sensitive point

   his criticism touched me on the raw

2. 1. informal without clothes; naked

   2. in a natural or unmodified state

      life in the raw

raw More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing raw

• in the altogether (raw)

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Usage

What does raw mean? Raw describes something that hasn’t been cooked, as in The butcher put a pile of raw meat on the table. Raw can also describe something that hasn’t been processed or refined, as in Raw cotton must be cleaned of plant parts before it can be made into thread or fabric. Raw also refers to skin that was painfully removed, as in The uncomfortable pants rubbed my knees raw. As well, raw can refer to someone who lacks experience or training, as in The rookie detective was too raw to be of any help to the veteran investigator. Raw is rarely used as a noun. It is sometimes used in the idiom in the raw, meaning a natural, unprocessed state or, more informally, referring to something done while naked. Example: The diners became very ill after eating chicken that was more raw that cooked.

Synonym Usage

Raw, crude, rude refer to something not in a finished or highly refined state. Raw applies particularly to material not yet changed by a process, by manufacture, or by preparation for consumption: raw cotton; raw leather. Crude refers to that which still needs refining: crude petroleum. Rude refers to what is still in a condition of rough simplicity or in a makeshift or roughly made form: rude agricultural implements; the rude bridge that arched the flood.

Other Word Forms

• rawishness
  noun
• rawness
  noun
• semirawness
  noun
• half-raw
  adjective
• rawish
  adjective
• semiraw
  adjective
• rawly
  adverb
• semirawly
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of raw

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English hrēaw, hrǣw; cognate with Dutch rauw, German roh; akin to Latin crūdus “raw” ( see crude), cruor “blood,” Greek kréas “raw flesh” ( see creatine)

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Explanation

Something that's raw is uncooked. A ripe raw tomato tastes very different from one that's slowly roasted with olive oil. Raw food isn't heated, and while raw fruits and vegetables are usually delicious, raw eggs and meat can be dangerous. When you use the word raw to describe things that aren't edible, it generally means "in a natural, untreated state," like raw silk or raw wood. You might also have raw feelings or raw emotions — these are basic and out in the open. The Old English root is hreaw, "uncooked," from a Germanic source.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

raw rawer rawest

Indonesia is expanding its refining and smelting industries as part of a push to process more raw materials domestically.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

At the Shrine, though, each song was still a startling feat of storytelling — a raw wound that somehow hadn’t healed at all.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

These fatty acids are important components of cell membranes and can serve as raw materials for molecules that regulate inflammation.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026

When treatment works are overwhelmed, such as during heavy rain, they spill raw sewage.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

He’d pretend to get mad that I ate his candy again, and I’d giggle and deny it, my tongue raw and tingly from too much sugar.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Gilgamesh’s lament is not the stylized keening of epic tradition—not Achilles’ highfalutin howls after Hector strikes down Patroclus—but something rawer, humbler, more recognizably human.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

But I find it hard to conceive that the image her leadership so desperately courts—a renegade broadcast company, steelier, rawer, and ineffably realer than its competitors—will ever take hold.

From Slate ● Jan. 6, 2026

Whether the shorter, rawer Prem hits that sweet spot will be seen next season.

From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2025

There’s a glossy sheen and an intensity of color to their images, a level of aestheticization that initially seems inconsistent with Ben Hania’s pursuit of a rawer, messier truth.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2023

Beneath your world of skies and faces and buildings exists a rawer and older world, a place where surface planes disintegrate and sounds ribbon in shoals through the air.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

It is golf in its rawest form with a place in the game's most historic tournament at stake.

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2025

The rawest and most prevalent emotions were still tied to the Lakers’ losing 4-1 to Minnesota in a best-of-seven series in which were beaten by “the better team,” Redick said.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2025

It’s genuinely therapeutic to just peel back all the layers and say the rawest, realest version of your truth.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 3, 2024

Fatoumata Diawara, from Mali, rides a galloping six-beat modal groove topped by the Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca in “Blues,” which is by far the rawest song on her new album of international fusions, “London Ko.”

From New York Times ● May 12, 2023

The files on the murders of the Osage contained history in its rawest form: bits of data vacuumed up without any chronology or narrative, like a novel whose pages were out of order.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

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Related Words

• basic
• coarse
• crude
• fresh
• natural
• organic
• rough
• uncooked
• undercooked
• unprocessed
• untreated

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