rough

[ ruhf ]

/ rʌf /

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See synonyms for: rough / roughed / rougher / roughest on Thesaurus.com

adjective, rough·er, rough·est.

having a coarse or uneven surface, as from projections, irregularities, or breaks; not smooth: rough, red hands; a rough road.

shaggy or coarse: a dog with a rough coat.

(of an uninhabited region or large land area) steep or uneven and covered with high grass, brush, trees, stones, etc.: to hunt over rough country.

acting with or characterized by violence: Boxing is a rough sport.

characterized by unnecessary violence or infractions of the rules: It was a rough prize fight.

violently disturbed or agitated; turbulent, as water or the air: a rough sea.

having a violently irregular motion; uncomfortably or dangerously uneven: The plane had a rough flight in the storm.

stormy or tempestuous, as wind or weather.

sharp or harsh: a rough temper.

unmannerly or rude: his rough and churlish manner; They exchanged rough words.

disorderly or riotous: a rough mob.

difficult or unpleasant: to have a rough time of it.

harsh to the ear; grating or jarring, as sounds.

harsh to the taste; sharp or astringent: a rough wine.

coarse, as food.

lacking culture or refinement: a rough, countrified manner.

without refinements, luxuries, or ordinary comforts or conveniences: rough camping.

requiring exertion or strength rather than intelligence or skill: rough manual labor.

not elaborated, perfected, or corrected; unpolished, as language, verse, or style: a rough draft.

made or done without any attempt at exactness, completeness, or thoroughness; approximate or tentative: a rough guess.

crude, unwrought, nonprocessed, or unprepared: rough rice.

Phonetics. uttered with aspiration; having the sound of h; aspirated.

noun

something that is rough, especially rough ground.

Golf. any part of the course bordering the fairway on which the grass, weeds, etc., are not trimmed.

the unpleasant or difficult part of anything.

anything in its crude or preliminary form, as a drawing.

Chiefly British. a rowdy; ruffian.

adverb

in a rough manner; roughly.

verb (used with object), roughed, rough·ing.

to make rough; roughen.

to give a beating to, manhandle, or subject to physical violence (often followed by up): The mob roughed up the speaker.

to subject to some rough, preliminary process of working or preparation (often followed by down, off, or out): to rough off boards.

to sketch roughly or in outline (often followed by in or out): to rough out a diagram; to rough in the conversation of a novel.

Sports. to subject (a player on the opposing team) to unnecessary physical abuse, as in blocking or tackling: The team was penalized 15 yards for roughing the kicker.

verb (used without object), roughed, rough·ing.

to become rough, as a surface.

to behave roughly.

OTHER WORDS FOR rough

1 irregular, jagged, bumpy, craggy.

2 hairy, bristly.

13 noisy, cacophonous, raucous.

16 impolite, uncivil, unpolished, rude.

See synonyms for rough on Thesaurus.com

OPPOSITES FOR rough

1 smooth, even, regular.

See antonyms for rough on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms about rough

in the rough, in a rough, crude, or unfinished state: The country has an exciting potential, but civilization there is still in the rough.

rough it, to live without the customary comforts or conveniences; endure rugged conditions: We really roughed it on our fishing trip.

Origin of rough

before 1000; Middle English (adj. and noun); Old English rūh (adj.); cognate with Dutch ruig,German rauh

OTHER WORDS FROM rough

roughly, adverbroughness, nouno·ver·rough, adjectiveo·ver·rough·ly, adverb

o·ver·rough·ness, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH rough

rough , ruff

Words nearby rough

rouge, Rouge Croix, Rouge Dragon, rouge et noir, Rouget de Lisle, rough, roughage, rough-and-ready, rough-and-tumble, roughback, rough bluegrass

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

How to use rough in a sentence

It started out rough, with several calls being dropped before everyone realized that even phone directions for public comment needed to be translated before people start providing public comments.
African Communities Warn Language Issues Could Shut Them Out of Redistricting|Maya Srikrishnan|February 10, 2021|Voice of San Diego
It’s been a rough road so far, but if there is one brightening light at the end of the tunnel, it’s that vaccinations are continuing to push forward.
Why South Africa stopped using the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine|Rahul Rao|February 8, 2021|Popular-Science
While the fidelity and speed of the system are still a long way from those achieved by state-of-the-art devices, a lot of this is down to the rough and ready experimental setup the researchers used and should be possible to improve on.
Connecting Distant Qubits Just Brought Distributed Quantum Computing Closer|Edd Gent|February 8, 2021|Singularity Hub
Planes couldn’t fly that morning because of weather, and the water was rough.
How is Alaska leading the nation in vaccinating residents? With boats, ferries, planes and snowmobiles.|Cathy Free|February 4, 2021|Washington Post

McIlroy did not call an official after checking on his ball in the rough Saturday at the 18th hole.
Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed situations now appear very different with new information from PGA Tour|Des Bieler|February 4, 2021|Washington Post
Terrorism is bad news anywhere, but especially rough on Odessa, where the city motto seems to be “make love, not war.”
Is Putin Turning to Terrorism in Ukraine?|Anna Nemtsova|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Gurley was gunned down on Nov. 20, when a pair of cops was patrolling the rough housing project.
Protesters Demand Justice For Gurley As Gap Grows Between Cops and NYC|M.L. Nestel|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Originally conceived by author Clarence E. Mulford in 1904, Hopalong was crude, rough-talking, and dangerous.
The Most Confusing Christmas Music Lyrics Explained (VIDEO)|Kevin Fallon|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
CEO Michael Lynton showed a rough cut of the movie to U.S. officials before moving ahead.
Exclusive: Sony Emails Say State Department Blessed Kim Jong-Un Assassination in ‘The Interview’|William Boot|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Hitchcock loved to tell stories, elaborate, complicated rough drafts for movies he would never make.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The camp grew still, except for the rough and ready cook pottering about the fire, boiling buffalo-meat and mixing biscuit-dough.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
It was only a hut of rough boards, carelessly knocked together for a shepherd's temporary home.
Ramona|Helen Hunt Jackson
He reached up for her big, rough straw hat that hung on a peg outside the door, and put it on her head.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
England proclaimed a rough indignation at the demand for Gibraltar, which Austria had made in behalf of Spain.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
The advance had to be carefully made, for the country was rough, wooded, and covered with a dense undergrowth of bushes.
The Courier of the Ozarks|Byron A. Dunn

British Dictionary definitions for rough

rough

/ (rʌf) /

adjective

(of a surface) not smooth; uneven or irregular

(of ground) covered with scrub, boulders, etc

denoting or taking place on uncultivated groundrough grazing; rough shooting

shaggy or hairy

turbulent; agitateda rough sea

(of the performance or motion of something) uneven; irregulara rough engine

(of behaviour or character) rude, coarse, ill mannered, inconsiderate, or violent

harsh or sharprough words

informal severe or unpleasanta rough lesson

(of work, a task, etc) requiring physical rather than mental effort

informal ill or physically upsethe felt rough after an evening of heavy drinking

unfair or unjustrough luck

harsh or grating to the ear

harsh to the taste

without refinement, luxury, etc

not polished or perfected in any detail; rudimentary; not elaboraterough workmanship; rough justice

not prepared or dressedrough gemstones

(of a guess, estimate, etc) approximate

Australian informal (of a chance) not good

having the sound of h; aspirated

rough on informal, mainly British

severe towards
unfortunate for (a person)

the rough side of one's tongue harsh words; a reprimand, rebuke, or verbal attack

noun

rough ground

a sketch or preliminary piece of artwork

an unfinished or crude state (esp in the phrase in the rough)

the rough golf the part of the course bordering the fairways where the grass is untrimmed

tennis squash badminton the side of a racket on which the binding strings form an uneven line

informal a rough or violent person; thug

the unpleasant side of something (esp in the phrase take the rough with the smooth)

adverb

in a rough manner; roughly

sleep rough to spend the night in the open; be without a home or without shelter

verb

(tr) to make rough; roughen

(tr ; foll by out, in, etc) to prepare (a sketch, report, piece of work, etc) in preliminary form

rough it informal to live without the usual comforts or conveniences of life

Derived forms of rough

roughness, noun

Word Origin for rough

Old English rūh; related to Old Norse ruksa, Middle Dutch rūge, rūwe, German rauh

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 rough

rough

In addition to the idioms beginning with rough

rough and ready
rough and tumble
rough it
rough on, be
rough out
rough up

also see:

diamond in the rough
ride roughshod over
take the rough with the smooth
when the going gets rough

rough

OTHER WORDS FOR rough

OPPOSITES FOR rough

Idioms about rough

Origin of rough

OTHER WORDS FROM rough

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH rough

Words nearby rough

Words related to rough

How to use rough in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for rough

Derived forms of rough

Word Origin for rough

Other Idioms and Phrases with rough