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• rough cut
  rough cut

  noun

  the first assembly of a film following preliminary cutting and editing.
• rough-cut
  rough-cut

  adjective

  cut into small, irregular pieces (contrasted with fine-cut).

rough cut

¹ American  

noun

Movies.

1. the first assembly of a film following preliminary cutting and editing.

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rough-cut ² American  

[ruhf-kuht] / ˈrʌfˈkʌt /

adjective

1. cut into small, irregular pieces (contrasted with fine-cut).

   rough-cut tobacco.

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rough-cut British  

noun

1. a first edited version of a film with the scenes in sequence and the soundtrack synchronized

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Etymology

Origin of rough cut¹

First recorded in 1935–40

Origin of rough-cut²

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rough cut rough-cut

Davis further objected to music producer David Foster’s insistence on an elaborate backing remix for the song, having fallen in love with the first rough cut, which had been recorded live on set.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

I've seen one rough cut for Season 2.

From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2025

He’s seen the movie only twice; once in a rough cut and then again on an airplane.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2025

That’s also what Disney executives asked with concern about the idiosyncratic stop-motion animation musical when they saw a rough cut.

From New York Times ● Oct. 25, 2023

“Which I doubt;” His voice was oddly and beautifully rough cut, as some small boys’ voices are.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger

The rough-cut sandstone church, with its bright red doors and stained-glass windows, was built in 1904 to house the state’s oldest Methodist congregation, and occupies a prominent corner lot a few blocks north of downtown.

From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2023

Yet in a rough-cut monumental stone figure from a century later, he makes a very different effect: he’s a loin-clothed, sunken-cheeked giant wielding an earth-clearing ax.

From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2023

Don’t miss the shop’s versions of khoresh bamieh, a Persian okra stew, or Lebanese batata harra, a rough-cut potato dish electrified with garlic and chile flakes.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 18, 2021

The house he grew up in, long gone – rotted or burned or pulled down – was of rough-cut lumber and tar paper.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 15, 2019

Ser Amory had no ladders, but the holdfast walls were rough-cut and unmortared, easy to climb, and there seemed to be no end to the foes.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin