roughshod
Americanadjective
idioms
adjective
adverb
Etymology
Origin of roughshod
Explanation
Roughshod means "brutal" or "without regard for the rules." If someone ignores established rules and regulations, they run roughshod over the law. You'll nearly always find this word alongside "run" or "ride," as when a power-hungry politician rides roughshod over anyone who stands in the way of his success. We get this figurative term from the original meaning of roughshod, used to describe a horse whose metal shoes have sharp, protruding nails. This was done to prevent slipping, but during wartime it resulted in terrible damage to trampled soldiers. If you've been brutalized, you may feel someone's run roughshod over you.
Vocabulary lists containing roughshod
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.
He told reporters he was clamping down in response to “a whole bunch of developers who were acting in unscrupulous ways who were running roughshod over our communities.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
This has issues, and it is not a lever you can pull very often, otherwise it gives the impression of riding roughshod over the rest of the world.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
“They would run roughshod over the city,” said Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
The Oklahoma City Thunder, top-seeded in the NBA playoffs for the third consecutive season, are running roughshod over opponents.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
You two are trodding roughshod on the most important night of my life, her heavily made-up face said.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
