rough
Americanadjective
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rougher,
comparative
-
roughest
superlative
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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.
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(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.
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acting with or characterized by violence.
Boxing is a rough sport.
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characterized by unnecessary violence or infractions of the rules.
It was a rough prize fight.
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violently disturbed or agitated; turbulent, as water or the air.
a rough sea.
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having a violently irregular motion; uncomfortably or dangerously uneven.
The plane had a rough flight in the storm.
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stormy or tempestuous, as wind or weather.
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sharp or harsh.
a rough temper.
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unmannerly or rude.
his rough and churlish manner;
They exchanged rough words.
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disorderly or riotous.
a rough mob.
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difficult or unpleasant.
to have a rough time of it.
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harsh to the ear; grating or jarring, as sounds.
- Synonyms:
- raucous, cacophonous, noisy
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harsh to the taste; sharp or astringent.
a rough wine.
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coarse, as food.
-
lacking culture or refinement.
a rough, countrified manner.
- Synonyms:
- impolite, rude, unpolished, uncivil
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without refinements, luxuries, or ordinary comforts or conveniences.
rough camping.
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requiring exertion or strength rather than intelligence or skill.
rough manual labor.
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not elaborated, perfected, or corrected; unpolished, as language, verse, or style.
a rough draft.
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made or done without any attempt at exactness, completeness, or thoroughness; approximate or tentative.
a rough guess.
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crude, unwrought, nonprocessed, or unprepared.
rough rice.
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Phonetics. uttered with aspiration; having the sound of h; aspirated.
noun
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something that is rough, especially rough ground.
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Golf. any part of the course bordering the fairway on which the grass, weeds, etc., are not trimmed.
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the unpleasant or difficult part of anything.
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anything in its crude or preliminary form, as a drawing.
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Chiefly British. a rowdy; ruffian.
adverb
verb (used with object)
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to make rough; roughen.
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to give a beating to, manhandle, or subject to physical violence (often followed byup ).
The mob roughed up the speaker.
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to subject to some rough, preliminary process of working or preparation (often followed by down, off, orout ).
to rough off boards.
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to sketch roughly or in outline (often followed by in orout ).
to rough out a diagram;
to rough in the conversation of a novel.
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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)
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to become rough, as a surface.
-
to behave roughly.
idioms
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in the rough, in a rough, crude, or unfinished state.
The country has an exciting potential, but civilization there is still in the rough.
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rough it, to live without the customary comforts or conveniences; endure rugged conditions.
We really roughed it on our fishing trip.
adjective
-
(of a surface) not smooth; uneven or irregular
-
(of ground) covered with scrub, boulders, etc
-
denoting or taking place on uncultivated ground
rough grazing
rough shooting
-
shaggy or hairy
-
turbulent; agitated
a rough sea
-
(of the performance or motion of something) uneven; irregular
a rough engine
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(of behaviour or character) rude, coarse, ill mannered, inconsiderate, or violent
-
harsh or sharp
rough words
-
informal severe or unpleasant
a rough lesson
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(of work, a task, etc) requiring physical rather than mental effort
-
informal ill or physically upset
he felt rough after an evening of heavy drinking
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unfair or unjust
rough luck
-
harsh or grating to the ear
-
harsh to the taste
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without refinement, luxury, etc
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not polished or perfected in any detail; rudimentary; not elaborate
rough workmanship
rough justice
-
not prepared or dressed
rough gemstones
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(of a guess, estimate, etc) approximate
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informal (of a chance) not good
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having the sound of h ; aspirated
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informal
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severe towards
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unfortunate for (a person)
-
-
harsh words; a reprimand, rebuke, or verbal attack
noun
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rough ground
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a sketch or preliminary piece of artwork
-
an unfinished or crude state (esp in the phrase in the rough )
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golf the part of the course bordering the fairways where the grass is untrimmed
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tennis squash badminton the side of a racket on which the binding strings form an uneven line
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informal a rough or violent person; thug
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the unpleasant side of something (esp in the phrase take the rough with the smooth )
adverb
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in a rough manner; roughly
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to spend the night in the open; be without a home or without shelter
verb
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(tr) to make rough; roughen
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(tr; foll by out, in, etc) to prepare (a sketch, report, piece of work, etc) in preliminary form
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informal to live without the usual comforts or conveniences of life
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of rough
First recorded before 1000; Middle English (adjective and noun); Old English rūh (adjective); cognate with Dutch ruig, German rauh
Explanation
Rough means harsh and uneven. If you want to go driving in the rough terrain of rocky dirt roads, you'll need four-wheel drive and a stomach for bouncing. Rough means coarse or bumpy, and can be used in many different ways. A few days after you shave, your skin will be rough with stubble. Rough seas are choppy and turbulent, and might make you seasick. On a rough day, lots of things go wrong. A rough person (who could be called "a rough") tends to get into fights. Someone raised on a farm in the mountains could be described as having a rough and rugged life.
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.
See Examples For:
But as afternoon winds whipped up and the seas grew rough, the boat took on water as they returned to shore and began to sink about 600 yards off Alcatraz Island.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
In the occupied West Bank's arid region of Masafer Yatta, Emar made a smooth concrete floor on two caves' rough limestone ground before applying a white limewash on the brittle stone walls.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
If the Fed lifts rates on Wednesday, stocks could be in for a rough patch, according to this chart from Goldman Sachs.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
By rough math, a filer can clear that bar with 9 weeks of part-time work at $15 an hour.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Alfred Dee stood as straight as a fence post, and he wore the Sassafras Springs uniform: a rough blue shirt and worn overalls with a red bandanna sticking out of the back pocket.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
Shelley Ayres, who also lives opposite the beach at Shoreham, said: "The sea has been very calm for months and months, but today it has got a lot rougher."
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Your son has, perhaps, been given a rougher deal: Even though he is a full-time student with little or no income, he still pays about $500 for health insurance.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
My cancer was more treatable, although the cure was much rougher than hers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
Bonds are an excellent barometer of broader investor sentiment and usually act as an early beacon for rougher seas ahead.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
His voice sounded rougher than usual, as if it had read too many words aloud.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
Wall Street just limped through its roughest stretch in months, and every investor is asking the same nervous question: Is the worst over in the stock market, or is the selloff just getting started?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026
It had the power to soothe the roughest of sore throats and quiet the phlegmiest of coughs.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
Sixteen years ago, Abdi Nor Iftin was a Somali refugee living in one of the roughest slums in Kenya when he found out he had won the lottery of a lifetime.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
"They're the roughest people you'll ever meet," Trump told the New York Post on Thursday.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
Like Pap used to say, “Sometimes a good lie can smooth the roughest road for folk.”
From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis
‘Actually I, uh, roughed out a draft of it while you were at that, uh, baby thing. Do you mind?’
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 29, 2025
Doesn't mind being roughed up, it doesn't bother him if he doesn't have many touches.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2025
May has gone at least five innings in each of his five starts, getting roughed up in only one while posting a 3.95 ERA.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2025
Over the weekend, he posted a long message complaining that the New York Times was planning to report that he’d gotten roughed up, injuring his shoulder, in a sparring match with an agency jujitsu instructor.
From Slate ● Apr. 26, 2025
At my feet are mounds of burned-out candle wax, fistfuls of dying flowers blown by the wind and roughed by the ravages of the street.
From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon
Sierra Canyon had nine 15-yard penalties, many for late hits, roughing the passer or pass interference.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
“While we’ve made a lot of improvements, you still feel like you’re roughing it, and I love that.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
Writing in the Financial Times, Rebecca Nicholson says the show "takes a slightly different tack" from the original, "roughing up some of the cuteness with even more chaos and a carefully measured pinch of naughtiness".
From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2026
Facing fourth-and-19, he managed to convert with a completion to receiver Wan’Dale Robinson—while absorbing a roughing the passer that gave New York an additional 15 yards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2025
“I’m thinking someone’s patron might have been roughing it last night with a cheery little campfire ” Denna’s face fell.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
