discourteous or impolite, especially in a deliberate way.
a rude reply.
without culture, learning, or refinement.
rude, illiterate peasants.
rough in manners or behavior; unmannerly; uncouth.
rough, harsh, or ungentle.
rude hands.
roughly wrought, built, or formed; of a crude construction or kind.
a rude cottage.
not properly or fully developed; raw; unevolved.
a rude first stage of development.
harsh to the ear.
rude sounds.
without artistic elegance; of a primitive simplicity.
a rude design.
violent or tempestuous, as the waves.
robust, sturdy, or vigorous.
rude strength.
approximate or tentative.
a rude first calculation of costs.
insulting or uncivil; discourteous; impolite
he was rude about her hairstyle
lacking refinement; coarse or uncouth
vulgar or obscene
a rude joke
unexpected and unpleasant
a rude awakening to the facts of economic life
roughly or crudely made
we made a rude shelter on the island
rough or harsh in sound, appearance, or behaviour
humble or lowly
(prenominal) robust or sturdy
in rude health
(prenominal) approximate or imprecise
a rude estimate
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English rude, ruide, from Old French, from Latin rudis
Rude describes a type of behavior that isn't appropriate and usually isn't very nice, either — like yelling "You stink!" at a children's talent show. Rude refers to bad behavior or just plain bad manners. For example, children are taught to say "please" and "thank you" or they are considered rude. A rude person needs a little work — rude also means crude or basic, like a rude cabin out in the woods that barely keeps the rain out. It can be a sudden realization, too. If you wake up and see your breath, it's a rude awakening that the heat's not working.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"The kids are really amazing too. They're really respectful, they're not rude at all and they're very, very polite. Credit to the parents."
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Workers say they encounter rude or mentally unstable people and an unfortunate amount of human waste and vomit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
“RSVP as early as possible, be honest without being rude, and be clear that you won’t be attending rather than acting noncommittal and ultimately sending a last-minute ‘no’ anyway.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
“They were in for a rude awakening with the response, and it wasn’t just from the gay community,” Giants broadcaster and former pitcher Mike Krukow told KNBR, the team’s flagship radio station.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
I also don’t want to appear rude, either.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Following her was fellow queen Kochina Rude who came out dressed as Pee-wee Herman to perform the Germs’ “Lexicon Devil” before stage-diving into the crowd.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
“Cheap chicken ticks a lot of boxes, and expensive chicken violates those boxes,” Rude says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
“This suggests that mature consumers are not only growing in number but also increasing their spending at a significant pace,” said Jana Rude, Euromonitor’s senior global insight manager for consumers.
From Barron's ● Nov. 28, 2025
Rude gestures are rare on postage stamps, but Ukraine's best known stamp has one.
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2024
But thinking about Roza and about Sean and about Bomb Pops and the Rude boys made Finn’s ribs ache.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
Nothing is ruder than a guest who is constantly checking emails or making private phone calls.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2023
They talk the way real people talk, but they’re freer, ruder, funnier.
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2023
Her live routine is also "a lot ruder", she says.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2022
But his vision of it as a ruder, rawer, freer place is as uninteresting as it is inconsequential.
From Slate ● Apr. 15, 2022
John closed the door behind him and stood in the narrow church aisle, hearing behind him the voices of children playing, and ruder voices, the voices of their elders, cursing and crying in the streets.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
It’s that they’ve done it by transforming into the rudest, most hard-hitting, trash-talking team in professional basketball.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
It was a rude speech, maybe the rudest by a national leader in Davos history.
From Slate ● Jan. 21, 2026
If there was hope, and belief, that this type of performance was maybe behind them, then this was the rudest of rude awakenings.
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2025
The rudest, most disrespectful tweets garner eight times as many likes and ten times as many retweets as civil ones.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2022
“That’s the rudest thing you’ve ever said,” Lidia says with a smile, like I’ve had promise to be mean all along.
From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera
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.
