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rogue

[rohg]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rogue ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a dishonest, knavish person; scoundrel.

a playfully mischievous person; scamp: The youngest boys are little rogues.

a tramp or vagabond.

a rogue elephant or other animal of similar disposition.

Biology. a usually inferior organism, especially a plant, varying markedly from the normal.

verb (used without object), rogued, ro·guing.

to live or act as a rogue.

verb (used with object), rogued, ro·guing.

to cheat.

to uproot or destroy (plants, etc., that do not conform to a desired standard).

to perform this operation upon: to rogue a field.

adjective

(of an animal) having an abnormally savage or unpredictable disposition, as a rogue elephant.

no longer obedient, belonging, or accepted and hence not controllable or answerable; renegade: a rogue cop; a rogue union local.

Origin of rogue

First recorded in 1555–65; apparently short for obsolete roger begging vagabond, orig. cant word

Related formsout·rogue, verb (used with object), out·rogued, out·ro·guing.un·der·rogue, noun

Can be confusedrogue rouge

Synonyms for rogue

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rogue ON THESAURUS.COM

1. villain, trickster, swindler, cheat, mountebank, quack. See knave.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for rogue

crook, swindler, rascal, villain, miscreant, cheat, monstrosity, devil, criminal, scoundrel, reprobate, mischief, hooligan, scalawag, blackguard, fraud, trickster, outlaw, cheater, scamp

Examples from the Web for rogue

Contemporary Examples of rogue

Closed courthouses, rogue clerks, and misleading statements from the attorney general as Florida welcomes same-sex marriage.
The Back Alley, Low Blow-Ridden Fight to Stop Gay Marriage in Florida Is Finally Over
Jay Michaelson
January 5, 2015
The duo have five of these rogue installations under their belts, with another coming in early 2015.
#Setinthestreet: Your Street Corner Is Their Art Project
James Joiner
December 24, 2014
It invites dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans serving overseas as bargaining chips.
Aging Cuban Exiles And Their Lawmakers Bypassed by White House
Romina Ruiz-Goiriena
December 17, 2014
Once he graduated in 2006, Simien took a job as a publicity assistant at Rogue, then a division of Focus Features.
‘Dear White People’: How An Ex-Publicist’s Twitter Became One of the Year’s Most Important Films
Marlow Stern
October 30, 2014
History has no shortage of rogue explorers seizing land, hoisting their flags, and building new societies.
So You Want to Rule a Kingdom? A Wacky History of One-Man Nations
Nina Strochlic
July 17, 2014

Historical Examples of rogue

There never was a rogue, who had not a salvo to himself for being so.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
We were much provoked at the insult of playing the Rogue's March.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
And all that's in it for me is this—the schoolmaster was a rogue that did not give me that verse in for my money.
Tales And Novels, Volume 8 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
Where has your conscience been these two months back, you villain and rogue?
Micah Clarke
Arthur Conan Doyle
There was not a rogue or a rascal inside its whole precincts.
Bunyan
James Anthony Froude

British Dictionary definitions for rogue

rogue

noun

a dishonest or unprincipled person, esp a man; rascal; scoundrel

often jocular a mischievous or wayward person, often a child; scamp

a crop plant which is inferior, diseased, or of a different, unwanted variety

any inferior or defective specimen
(as modifier)rogue heroin

archaic a vagrant

an animal of vicious character that has separated from the main herd and leads a solitary life
(as modifier)a rogue elephant

verb

(tr)to rid (a field or crop) of plants that are inferior, diseased, or of an unwanted variety
to identify and remove such plants

Word Origin for rogue

C16: of unknown origin; perhaps related to Latin rogāre to beg

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

Word Origin and History for rogue

n.

1560s, "idle vagrant," perhaps a shortened form of roger (with a hard -g-), thieves' slang for a begging vagabond who pretends to be a poor scholar from Oxford or Cambridge, which is perhaps an agent noun in English from Latin rogare "to ask." Another theory [Klein] traces it to Celtic (cf. Breton rog "haughty"); OED says, "There is no evidence of connexion with F. rogue 'arrogant.' "

In playful or affectionate use, "one who is mischievous," 1590s. Meaning "large wild beast living apart from the herd" is from 1859, originally of elephants. Meaning "something uncontrolled or undisciplined" is from 1964. Also common in 17c. as a verb. Rogue's gallery "police collection of mug shots" is attested from 1859.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper