raspy
Americanadjective
-
harsh; grating; rasping.
-
easily annoyed; irritable.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of raspy
Explanation
A sound is raspy when it is rough or scratchy. If you get a bad cold or scream encouragement to a losing team for a few hours, you will end up with a raspy voice. A rasp is a tool, usually used by wood- or metal-workers, to scrape. Nail files and kitchen graters do the same work that a rasp does. A raspy voice sounds like it had to pass through a rasp or a grater to get out of your mouth. If you can barely speak, you might ask for water in a raspy whisper. Other sounds can seem raspy too like a dry cough, the caw of a crow or the bark of a dog that has been at it for a long time.
Vocabulary lists containing raspy
The Catcher in the Rye
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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Orbiting Jupiter
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Biden had a raspy voice, which his team said was because he was ill, and a moment where he seemed to lose his train of thought.
From BBC • May 27, 2026
Lyrics are delivered in raspy, gravelly voices that sound as authentic as the real thing.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
“We still have hope and we still believe,” she tells the camera in a raw, raspy voice.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026
As the night wound down in Hollywood, partygoers lingered, sweaty and smiling, voices raspy from singing with friends and strangers who felt like friends.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 18, 2026
The fabric is raspy against my skin, so unaccustomed lately to being touched.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
