raw

[ raw ]

/ rɔ /

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See synonyms for: raw / rawest / raws / rawness on Thesaurus.com

adjective, raw·er, raw·est.

uncooked, as articles of food: a raw carrot.

not having undergone processes of preparing, dressing, finishing, refining, or manufacture: raw cotton.

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

painfully open, as a sore or wound.

crude in quality or character; not tempered or refined by art or taste: raw humor.

ignorant, inexperienced, or untrained: a raw recruit.

brutally or grossly frank: a raw portrayal of human passions.

brutally harsh or unfair: a raw deal; receiving raw treatment from his friends.

disagreeably damp and chilly, as the weather or air: a raw, foggy day at the beach.

not diluted, as alcoholic spirits: raw whiskey.

unprocessed or unevaluated: raw data.

noun

a sore or irritated place, as on the flesh.

unrefined sugar, oil, etc.

OTHER WORDS FOR raw

2 unprepared, rough, makeshift.

6 undisciplined, green, unskilled, unpracticed.

9 cold, wet.

10 straight, neat.

See synonyms for raw on Thesaurus.com

OPPOSITES FOR raw

1 cooked.

See antonyms for raw on Thesaurus.com

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Idioms about raw

in the raw,

in the natural, uncultivated, or unrefined state: nature in the raw.
Informal. in the nude; naked: sunbathing in the raw.

Origin of raw

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

synonym study for raw

2. 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 WORDS FROM raw

rawish, adjectiveraw·ish·ness, nounrawly, adverbrawness, noun

half-raw, adjectivesem·i·raw, adjectivesem·i·raw·ly, adverbsem·i·raw·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use raw in a sentence

But, as Billboard put it, their golden age “faded with the rise of rawer hip-hop sub-genres like crunk and snap.”
How Pharrell Williams Finally Made It to the Top|Justin Jones|August 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
As it advanced the sky grew more threatening, the wind rawer, the cold keener, and the rain cut like little bits of sharp ice.
The Call of the Canyon|Zane Grey
He looked bigger and rawer than ever in white flannel, and he didn't seem in the least worried about his bet.
Fore!|Charles Emmett Van Loan
It was even colder than the night before, and the raw east wind was rawer, and with it all there was a drizzling rain.
The Voyage of the Rattletrap|Hayden Carruth

No new settlement in the American West has a rawer or more recent appearance.
Capitals of the Northlands|Ian C. Hannah
He was propped in a heavy chair with cushions about him, and he, too, had grown thinner and rawer of joint.
Destiny|Charles Neville Buck

British Dictionary definitions for raw

raw

/ (rɔː) /

adjective

(of food) not cookedraw onion

(prenominal) in an unfinished, natural, or unrefined state; not treated by manufacturing or other processesraw materials for making steel; raw brick

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

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

ignorant, inexperienced, or immaturea raw recruit

(prenominal) not selected or modifiedraw statistics

frank or realistica raw picture of the breakdown of a marriage

(of spirits) undiluted

mainly US coarse, vulgar, or obscene

mainly US recently done; freshraw paintwork

(of the weather) harshly cold and damp

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

noun

the raw British informal a sensitive pointhis criticism touched me on the raw

in the raw

informal without clothes; naked
in a natural or unmodified statelife in the raw

Derived forms of raw

rawish, adjectiverawly, adverbrawness, noun

Word Origin for raw

Old English hreaw; related to Old High German hrao, Old Norse hrār raw, Latin cruor thick blood, Greek kreas meat

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with raw

raw

In addition to the idiom beginning with raw

raw deal

also see:

in the altogether (raw)