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rude

[rood]
See more synonyms for rude on Thesaurus.com
adjective, rud·er, rud·est.
  1. discourteous or impolite, especially in a deliberate way: a rude reply.
  2. without culture, learning, or refinement: rude, illiterate peasants.
  3. rough in manners or behavior; unmannerly; uncouth.
  4. rough, harsh, or ungentle: rude hands.
  5. roughly wrought, built, or formed; of a crude construction or kind: a rude cottage.
  6. not properly or fully developed; raw; unevolved: a rude first stage of development.
  7. harsh to the ear: rude sounds.
  8. without artistic elegance; of a primitive simplicity: a rude design.
  9. violent or tempestuous, as the waves.
  10. robust, sturdy, or vigorous: rude strength.
  11. approximate or tentative: a rude first calculation of costs.
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Origin of rude

1300–50; Middle English rude, ruide (< Old French) < Latin rudis
Related formsrude·ly, adverbrude·ness, nouno·ver·rude, adjectiveo·ver·rude·ly, adverbo·ver·rude·ness, nounun·rude, adjectiveun·rude·ly, adverb

Synonyms

See more synonyms for rude on Thesaurus.com
1. uncivil, unmannerly, curt, brusque, impertinent, impudent, saucy, pert, fresh. 2. unrefined, uncultured, uncivilized, uncouth, coarse, vulgar, rough. 8. rustic, artless. 9. stormy, fierce, tumultuous, turbulent.

Synonym study

1, 3. See boorish. 6. See raw.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ruder

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Nay, they seem rather to prefer the ruder and rougher forms of attack.

    Aurelian

    William Ware

  • We had been accustomed to the ruder scenes of a northern clime.

    The Rifle Rangers

    Captain Mayne Reid

  • They have enabled the finer powers of women to have play as they could not in a ruder age.

    Backlog Studies

    Charles Dudley Warner

  • I asked for them again, you know, when Jim died, and she was ruder than ever.

    Eve to the Rescue

    Ethel Hueston

  • The deeper they got into the cavern, the ruder became the ascent.

    The Freebooters

    Gustave Aimard

British Dictionary definitions for ruder

rude

adjective
  1. insulting or uncivil; discourteous; impolitehe was rude about her hairstyle
  2. lacking refinement; coarse or uncouth
  3. vulgar or obscenea rude joke
  4. unexpected and unpleasanta rude awakening to the facts of economic life
  5. roughly or crudely madewe made a rude shelter on the island
  6. rough or harsh in sound, appearance, or behaviour
  7. humble or lowly
  8. (prenominal) robust or sturdyin rude health
  9. (prenominal) approximate or imprecisea rude estimate
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Derived Formsrudely, adverbrudeness or informal rudery, noun

Word Origin

C14: via Old French from Latin rudis coarse, unformed
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

Word Origin and History for ruder

rude

adj.

late 13c., "coarse, rough" (of surfaces), from Old French ruide (13c.) or directly from Latin rudis "rough, crude, unlearned," perhaps related to rudus "rubble." Sense of "ill-mannered, uncultured; uneducated, uncultured" is from mid-14c. Rude boy (also rudie, for short) in Jamaican slang is attested from 1967. Figurative phrase rude awakening is attested from 1895.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper