rogue

American  

[rohg] / roʊg /

adjective

1. no longer obedient, belonging, or accepted and hence not controllable or answerable; renegade.

   They described him as a rogue cop who had abandoned his training.

2. dangerous and unpredictable.

   They were trapped in the house by a rogue snowstorm.

3. of or noting a nation or state that defies international treaties, laws, etc..

   The blame is placed on rogue states that threaten world peace.

4. (of an animal) having an abnormally violent or unpredictable disposition.

   She helped trap a rogue tiger terrorizing the village.

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noun

• rogues
  plural

1. a dishonest, untrustworthy person; scoundrel.

   We were traveling in secret to avoid running into rogues and thieves.

   Synonyms:

   quack, mountebank, cheat, swindler, trickster, villain

2. a playfully mischievous person; scamp.

   The youngest boys are little rogues.

3. Archaic. a tramp or vagabond.

4. an animal having an abnormally violent or unpredictable disposition.

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

verb (used with object)

• rogues,
  present (3rd person singular)
• rogued,
  past participle,  past
• roguing
  present participle

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

      Usually, roguing the diseased plants is sufficient to minimize further spread.

   2. to perform this operation upon.

      to rogue a field.

2. to cheat.

verb (used without object)

• rogues,
  present (3rd person singular)
• rogued,
  past participle,  past
• roguing
  present participle

1. to live or act as a scoundrel, vagabond, or scamp.

idioms

1. go rogue, to stop being obedient or predictable; to behave in a way that is not allowed or expected.

   Giving people the tools they need to do their jobs greatly reduces the risk of employees going rogue and using unauthorized services.

   To make more money, the agent went rogue and sold his services to the highest bidder.

rogue British  

/ rəʊɡ /

noun

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

2. humorous a mischievous or wayward person, often a child; scamp

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

4. 1. any inferior or defective specimen

   2. ( as modifier )

      rogue heroin

5. archaic a vagrant

6. 1. an animal of vicious character that has separated from the main herd and leads a solitary life

   2. ( as modifier )

      a rogue elephant

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verb

1. 1. (tr) to rid (a field or crop) of plants that are inferior, diseased, or of an unwanted variety

   2. to identify and remove such plants

Synonym Usage

See knave.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• outrogue
  verb (used with object)

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• rogues
  plural

Participles

• roguing
  present
• rogued
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• rogue
  simple
• rogues
  simple
• have rogued
  perfect
• has rogued
  perfect
• am roguing
  progressive
• are roguing
  progressive
• is roguing
  progressive
• have been roguing
  perfect progressive
• has been roguing
  perfect progressive

Past

• rogued
  simple
• had rogued
  perfect
• was roguing
  progressive
• were roguing
  progressive
• had been roguing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will rogue
  simple
• will have rogued
  perfect
• will be roguing
  progressive
• will have been roguing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of rogue

First recorded in 1555–65; origin uncertain, apparently short for obsolete roger “begging vagabond,” originally thieves' jargon

Explanation

A rogue is a sneaky person who has tricks up his sleeve, not like a magician, but like someone who would steal your wallet or cheat at cards. Dishonesty won’t get you far in life, unless you are a rogue who survives by lying and exploiting others. The word comes from the Latin rogare, which means “beg,” and while some rogues dress like beggars to get your money, anyone who deceives is a rogue, like the presidents of corrupt corporations who steal from their employees, or that rogue Uncle Marvin who promises you chocolate for washing his car, but afterward tells you he has no chocolate. That rogue!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rogue rogues rogued roguing

Senior Boeing executives discussed the potential vulnerability of a rogue pilot being alone in the cockpit, according to people familiar with the discussions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

Open-weight models are also touted as more secure, a growing concern after several incidents of AI agents going rogue by hacking databases or otherwise doing things they were not supposed to do.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

An OpenAI agent went "rogue" and "infiltrated" a private statistics portal containing "non-sensitive" data from Australia's universal healthcare scheme Medicare in June in what cyber-security experts said was the first hack of its kind.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

AI agents going rogue and ever-louder doomsday warnings have led many in Europe to wonder: are the EU's artificial intelligence rules enough to protect against the potential dangers?

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

The Epic Ellison Girls exited the battle, their rogue robot in pursuit, their part of the maneuver complete.

From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles

No regulatory plan we’ve seen would do better against rogues.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

Nancy Dunnachie, 65, the widow of a former Morton's Rolls employee tells BBC Scotland: "He kept going on about how they were a 'shower of rogues'."

From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2025

“One of the peculiarities of squares is their screwy propensity to glorify rogues and scoundrels.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2024

The reverence I had unwittingly infiltrated a culture of rogues & thieves posing as police.

From Salon ● Jan. 31, 2023

Under McGirr, Pollard became known as a specialist in rogues and troubled horses and began to win regularly with them.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

“And we’ve had our fun,” he boasted, “and speaking of sweethearts and all,” he cribbed from Kipling, “‘We’ve rogued and we’ve ranged - ’” “‘In our time,’” Slim completed the crib for him.

From The Red One by Jack London

Chapman says, on reading these letters and hearing all the case, that he never heard of any man being more shamefully treated,—that I have been outrageously rogued and robbed throughout.

From Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. I by Edmund Downey

The practice enters into every hour of every-day life, and the greatest knave that ever rogued never cheated the world half as often as he cheated himself!

From Davenport Dunn, Volume 2 (of 2) A Man Of Our Day by Charles James Lever

Does he think I will see Squire Rawdon rogued out of his home?

From The Man Between, an International Romance by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr

You will recall that the off-type trees were rogued, leaving the parent trees of Nanking, Kuling and Meiling and others of good bearing habits.

From Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 43rd Annual Meeting Rockport, Indiana, August 25, 26 and 27, 1952 by Northern Nut Growers Association

For Maciej, a former Aberdeen University student, an offer to go seed potato "roguing" turned out to be the right opportunity.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2012

Potato roguing brings together people from all over the world It is essential to be fit to become a roguer, though it is also important to know what to look for.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2012

The "roguing," as nursery-men call the destroying of varieties, which depart from their type, is a kind of selection.

From Life and Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 1 by Sir Francis Darwin

Whether the disease can be kept under control by repeated roguing is uncertain.

From Northern Nut Growers Association Incorporated 39th Annual Report at Norris, Tenn. September 13-15 1948 by Northern Nut Growers Association

These roguing thieves serve the great pirate Valdes; And they hav seized Marina.

From Pericles by William Shakespeare

Related Words

• con artist
• crook
• rascal
• swindler
• villain