raw

[ raw ]
See synonyms for raw on Thesaurus.com
adjective,raw·er, raw·est.
  1. uncooked, as articles of food: a raw carrot.

  2. not having undergone processes of preparing, dressing, finishing, refining, or manufacture: raw cotton.

  1. unnaturally or painfully exposed, as flesh, by removal of the skin or natural integument.

  2. painfully open, as a sore or wound.

  3. crude in quality or character; not tempered or refined by art or taste: raw humor.

  4. ignorant, inexperienced, or untrained: a raw recruit.

  5. brutally or grossly frank: a raw portrayal of human passions.

  6. brutally harsh or unfair: a raw deal; receiving raw treatment from his friends.

  7. disagreeably damp and chilly, as the weather or air: a raw, foggy day at the beach.

  8. not diluted, as alcoholic spirits: raw whiskey.

  9. unprocessed or unevaluated: raw data.

noun
  1. a sore or irritated place, as on the flesh.

  2. unrefined sugar, oil, etc.

Idioms about raw

  1. in the raw,

    • in the natural, uncultivated, or unrefined state: nature in the raw.

    • Informal. in the nude; naked: sunbathing in the raw.

Origin of raw

1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English hrēaw, hrǣw; cognate with Dutch rauw, German roh; akin to Latin crūdus “raw” (see crude), cruor “blood,” Greek kréas “raw flesh” (see creatine)

synonym study For raw

2. Raw, crude, rude refer to something not in a finished or highly refined state. Raw applies particularly to material not yet changed by a process, by manufacture, or by preparation for consumption: raw cotton; raw leather. Crude refers to that which still needs refining: crude petroleum. Rude refers to what is still in a condition of rough simplicity or in a makeshift or roughly made form: rude agricultural implements; the rude bridge that arched the flood.

Other words for raw

Opposites for raw

Other words from raw

  • rawish, adjective
  • raw·ish·ness, noun
  • rawly, adverb
  • rawness, noun
  • half-raw, adjective
  • sem·i·raw, adjective
  • sem·i·raw·ly, adverb
  • sem·i·raw·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for raw

raw

/ (rɔː) /


adjective
  1. (of food) not cooked: raw onion

  2. (prenominal) in an unfinished, natural, or unrefined state; not treated by manufacturing or other processes: raw materials for making steel; raw brick

  1. (of an edge of material) unhemmed; liable to fray

  2. (of the skin, a wound, etc) having the surface exposed or abraded, esp painfully

  3. ignorant, inexperienced, or immature: a raw recruit

  4. (prenominal) not selected or modified: raw statistics

  5. frank or realistic: a raw picture of the breakdown of a marriage

  6. (of spirits) undiluted

  7. mainly US coarse, vulgar, or obscene

  8. mainly US recently done; fresh: raw paintwork

  9. (of the weather) harshly cold and damp

  10. informal unfair; unjust (esp in the phrase a raw deal)

noun
  1. the raw British informal a sensitive point: his criticism touched me on the raw

  2. in the raw

    • informal without clothes; naked

    • in a natural or unmodified state: life in the raw

Origin of raw

1
Old English hreaw; related to Old High German hrao, Old Norse hrār raw, Latin cruor thick blood, Greek kreas meat

Derived forms of raw

  • rawish, adjective
  • rawly, adverb
  • rawness, noun

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with raw

raw

In addition to the idiom beginning with raw

  • raw deal

also see:

  • in the altogether (raw)

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.