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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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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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

Recycling metal for cars and appliances generally uses less carbon than producing new raw materials.
Trying to shop sustainably? Here’s what you need to consider.|Sarah Kaplan|November 20, 2020|Washington Post
The lonely nights, the sneaking, the glow of the fridge, the raw ugliness and the pure exhaustion.
What ‘The Crown’ got right in portraying Princess Diana’s bulimia: It let her voice be heard|Amanda Long|November 20, 2020|Washington Post
There is so much raw emotion surrounding everything we’re going through — be it the political environment, the pandemic environment, the employment environment.
It started as a macho bake-off between dads. Months later, they’ve delivered 15,000 cookies to essential workers.|Sydney Page|November 20, 2020|Washington Post
Horrific, yes, but it is hard to look away from this raw, disturbing tale.
Best science fiction, fantasy and horror books of 2020|Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Lavie Tidhar|November 19, 2020|Washington Post

Some began to work when they were just 13 or 14, packing the candy you find by the supermarket register, cutting the slabs of raw meat that end up in your freezer and baking, in industrial ovens, the pastries you eat with your coffee.
Inside the Lives of Immigrant Teens Working Dangerous Night Shifts in Suburban Factories|by Melissa Sanchez|November 19, 2020|ProPublica
But Slutever, with its rawness, honesty, and self-deprecating humor, was something different.
Is This Dildo-Licking, Dominatrix-Loving Vogue Blogger the New Face of Feminism?|Lizzie Crocker|May 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
"Bradshaw and McBeal in particular stand out from the other women of their time because of their sheer rawness," Nisita writes.
The Evolution of The Single Woman on TV|Erin Cunningham|January 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Now I think that many are beginning to experience the rawness of the trauma, emptiness, and loss.
Newtown’s Pastor, Three Months Later|Joshua DuBois|March 24, 2013|DAILY BEAST
There was a rawness and impolitic honesty to his shows, many of which could make your heart weep.
Louis Vuitton, Chanel, McQueen Cap Paris Spring 2013 Fashion Week Shows|Robin Givhan|October 3, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The sheer rawness of profound loss was finally beginning to set in.
My Life with the Kennedys|Archbishop Hannan, Nancy Collins|June 1, 2010|DAILY BEAST
They lose their excess, or what we should call in wine, their rawness and their freshness.
Travels through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808|Lt-Col. Pinkney
For that rawness of the nerves I speak of, many apply themselves to drink; some rush to drugs; for myself, I take to music.
The Onlooker, Volume 1, Part 2|Various
In the four years of his school-teaching at Jasper Mackenzie slowly grew out of his extreme rawness of appearance.
The Flockmaster of Poison Creek|George W. Ogden
Miss Seldon was frankly bored by the crude rawness of the place.
The Highgrader|William MacLeod Raine
Could Horace Endicott have ever descended to this view of his world, this rawness of thought, sentiment, and expression?
The Art of Disappearing|John Talbot Smith

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)