roughage

[ ruhf-ij ]
See synonyms for roughage on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. rough or coarse material.

  2. any coarse, rough food for livestock.

Origin of roughage

1
First recorded in 1880–85; rough + -age

Words Nearby roughage

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

How to use roughage in a sentence

  • The greens cut through the richness of everything else that was being served, providing some much-needed roughage and, amazingly, letting everyone eat more than if their stomachs had been full of only animal fat and cheese.

    The Case for Thanksgiving Side Salad | Jaya Saxena | November 16, 2021 | Eater
  • Also they gave us roughage fur our hosses and wouldn't take pay fur none of it, indicatin' by signs that it was all a free gift.

    Those Times And These | Irvin S. Cobb
  • I keep an abundance of roughage, usually shredded corn, before the cows all the time.

    The Fat of the Land | John Williams Streeter
  • Bean straw is sometimes given as part of the roughage in Scotland, but not in England.

  • The skins make roughage and keep the alimentary tract active.

    Evening Round Up | William Crosbie Hunter

British Dictionary definitions for roughage

roughage

/ (ˈrʌfɪdʒ) /


noun
  1. the coarse indigestible constituents of food or fodder, which provide bulk to the diet and promote normal bowel function: See also dietary fibre

  2. any rough or coarse material

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