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rough
[ ruhf ]
adjective
- 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.
- (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.
- acting with or characterized by violence:
Boxing is a rough sport.
- characterized by unnecessary violence or infractions of the rules:
It was a rough prize fight.
- violently disturbed or agitated; turbulent, as water or the air:
a rough sea.
- having a violently irregular motion; uncomfortably or dangerously uneven:
The plane had a rough flight in the storm.
- stormy or tempestuous, as wind or weather.
- sharp or harsh:
a rough temper.
- unmannerly or rude:
his rough and churlish manner;
They exchanged rough words.
- disorderly or riotous:
a rough mob.
- difficult or unpleasant:
to have a rough time of it.
- harsh to the ear; grating or jarring, as sounds.
Synonyms: raucous, cacophonous, noisy
- harsh to the taste; sharp or astringent:
a rough wine.
- coarse, as food.
- lacking culture or refinement:
a rough, countrified manner.
Synonyms: unpolished, impolite, rude, uncivil
- without refinements, luxuries, or ordinary comforts or conveniences:
rough camping.
- requiring exertion or strength rather than intelligence or skill:
rough manual labor.
- not elaborated, perfected, or corrected; unpolished, as language, verse, or style:
a rough draft.
- made or done without any attempt at exactness, completeness, or thoroughness; approximate or tentative:
a rough guess.
- crude, unwrought, nonprocessed, or unprepared:
rough rice.
- Phonetics. uttered with aspiration; having the sound of h; aspirated.
noun
- something that is rough, especially rough ground.
- Golf. any part of the course bordering the fairway on which the grass, weeds, etc., are not trimmed.
- the unpleasant or difficult part of anything.
- anything in its crude or preliminary form, as a drawing.
- Chiefly British. a rowdy; ruffian.
adverb
- in a rough manner; roughly.
verb (used with object)
- to make rough; roughen.
- to give a beating to, manhandle, or subject to physical violence (often followed by up ):
The mob roughed up the speaker.
- to subject to some rough, preliminary process of working or preparation (often followed by down, off, or out ):
to rough off boards.
- to sketch roughly or in outline (often followed by in or out ):
to rough out a diagram;
to rough in the conversation of a novel.
- 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)
- to become rough, as a surface.
- to behave roughly.
rough
/ rʌf /
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
- (of behaviour or character) rude, coarse, ill mannered, inconsiderate, or violent
- harsh or sharp
rough words
- informal.severe or unpleasant
a rough lesson
- (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
- unfair or unjust
rough luck
- harsh or grating to the ear
- harsh to the taste
- without refinement, luxury, etc
- not polished or perfected in any detail; rudimentary; not elaborate
rough workmanship
rough justice
- not prepared or dressed
rough gemstones
- (of a guess, estimate, etc) approximate
- informal.(of a chance) not good
- having the sound of h ; aspirated
- rough on informal.
- severe towards
- unfortunate for (a person)
- the rough side of one's tongueharsh words; a reprimand, rebuke, or verbal attack
noun
- rough ground
- a sketch or preliminary piece of artwork
- an unfinished or crude state (esp in the phrase in the rough )
- the roughgolf the part of the course bordering the fairways where the grass is untrimmed
- tennis squash badminton the side of a racket on which the binding strings form an uneven line
- informal.a rough or violent person; thug
- the unpleasant side of something (esp in the phrase take the rough with the smooth )
adverb
- in a rough manner; roughly
- sleep roughto spend the night in the open; be without a home or without shelter
verb
- tr to make rough; roughen
- tr; foll by out, in, etc to prepare (a sketch, report, piece of work, etc) in preliminary form
- rough it informal.to live without the usual comforts or conveniences of life
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Derived Forms
- ˈroughness, noun
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Other Words From
- roughly adverb
- roughness noun
- over·rough adjective
- over·roughly adverb
- over·roughness noun
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Word History and Origins
Origin of rough1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of rough1
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Idioms and Phrases
- in the rough, in a rough, crude, or unfinished state:
The country has an exciting potential, but civilization there is still in the rough.
- rough it, to live without the customary comforts or conveniences; endure rugged conditions:
We really roughed it on our fishing trip.
More idioms and phrases containing rough
- diamond in the rough
- ride roughshod over
- take the rough with the smooth
- when the going gets rough
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Related Words
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.
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