rough
(noun, adjective, verb, adverb)
adjective
1. having or caused by an irregular surface
- trees with rough bark
- rough ground
- rough skin
Similar word(s): uneven, unironed, wrinkled, unpolished, irregular, coarse, harsh, nonslippery, abrasive, scratchy, alligatored, cracked, barky, broken, rugged, bullate, bumpy, chapped, roughened, corded, twilled, costate, ribbed, cragged, craggy, hilly, mountainous, crushed, homespun, nubbly, nubby, slubbed, tweedy, imbricate, imbricated, lepidote, leprose, scabrous, scaly, scurfy, squamulose, lined, seamed, pocked, pockmarked, potholed, rockbound, bouldered, bouldery, rocky, stony, gravelly, pebbly, shingly, roughish, rugose, sandpapery, scabby, shagged, shaggy, textured, verrucose, wartlike, warty, unsmooth
2. (of persons or behavior) lacking refinement or finesse
- she was a diamond in the rough
- rough manners
Similar word(s): unrefined
3. not quite exact or correct
- a rough guess
Similar word(s): inexact, approximate, approximative
4. full of hardship or difficulties
- they were having a rough time
Similar word(s): difficult, hard, rocky
5. violently agitated and turbulent
- rough weather
- rough seas
Similar word(s): stormy, boisterous, fierce
6. unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound
Similar word(s): cacophonic, cacophonous, grating, gravelly, rasping, raspy, scratchy
7. ready and able to resort to force or violence
- they were rough and determined fighting men
Similar word(s): aggressive, pugnacious
8. of the margin of a leaf shape; having the edge cut or fringed or scalloped
Similar word(s): simple, unsubdivided, compound, bidentate, biserrate, ciliate, ciliated, crenate, crenated, scalloped, crenulate, crenulated, crispate, dentate, denticulate, emarginate, erose, jagged, jaggy, notched, toothed, fimbriate, fringed, laciniate, lacerate, lacerated, pectinate, rimose, runcinate, serrate, serrated, serrulate, spinose
9. causing or characterized by jolts and irregular movements
- a rough ride
Similar word(s): bumpy, jolting, jolty, jumpy, rocky
10. not shaped by cutting or trimming
- rough gemstones
Similar word(s): unsheared, uncut
11. not carefully or expertly made
- rough carpentry
Similar word(s): unskilled, crude
12. not perfected
- a rough draft
- a few rough sketches
Similar word(s): unpolished
13. unpleasantly stern
- the nomad life is rough and hazardous
Similar word(s): unpleasant, harsh
14. unkind or cruel or uncivil
- a mean or rough answer
Similar word(s): unkind, harsh
Sentences with rough as an adjective:
- a rough estimate; a rough sketch of a building
- The sea was rough.
- Being a teenager nowadays can be rough.
- His manners are a bit rough, but he means well.
- This box has been through some rough handling.
- a rough diamond
- rough wine
adverb
1. with roughness or violence (`rough' is an informal variant for `roughly')
- he was pushed roughly aside
- they treated him rough
Similar word(s): roughly
2. with rough motion as over a rough surface
- ride rough
Similar word(s): roughly
noun
1. the part of a golf course bordering the fairway where the grass is not cut short