Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

rough-hew

American  
[ruhf-hyoo] / ˈrʌfˈhyu /
Or roughhew

verb (used with object)

rough-hewed, rough-hewed, rough-hewn, rough-hewing
  1. to hew (timber, stone, etc.) roughly or without smoothing or finishing.

  2. to shape roughly; give crude form to.


rough-hew British  

verb

  1. to cut or hew (timber, stone, etc) roughly without finishing the surface

  2. Also: roughcast.  to shape roughly or crudely

"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

Etymology

Origin of rough-hew

First recorded in 1520–30

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It also engages the idea that some things may be hard-wired into our blood, echoing Hamlet’s phrase about how there’s a “divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.”

From New York Times • Apr. 17, 2016

Indeed, character consists in little acts, well and honorably performed; daily life being the quarry from which we build it up, and rough-hew the habits which form it.

From How to Get on in the World A Ladder to Practical Success by Calhoon, Major A.R.

Every man had the right to rough-hew his own life.

From Swirling Waters by Rittenberg, Max

"There is a hand that shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we will."

From Hubert's Wife A Story for You by Lee, Minnie Mary

But "there's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will."

From Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine by Waugh, Edwin