I. ˈrəf adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English rūh; akin to Old High German rūh rough, hairy, Latin runcare to weed, ruga wrinkle, Greek orychein, oryssein to dig, orygē act of digging, Sanskrit rūksa rough, Old Norse rögg tuft, shagginess — more at rug
1.
a. : marked by inequalities (as rises and falls, ridges, protuberances, projections, breaks, or seams) on the surface : not smooth or plain : coarse
a rough board
rough stone
a tunic of rough serge — G.B.Shaw
a rough roadway made of cinders and slag — Louis Bromfield
b. : covered with hair, fleece, or bristles : shaggy , unshorn
rough satyrs danced — John Milton
a rough hog
rough sheep
a face rough with two days' beard
c.
(1) : having a broken, uneven, or bumpy surface
rough hilly country
(2) : difficult to travel over or penetrate : wild
rough country … covered with dense jungle
2.
a. : marked by turbulence or storminess : tempestuous
the rough waters of the channel
rough winds
rough weather
a rough voyage
airsickness brought about by flight through rough air — H.G.Armstrong
b.
(1) : characterized by harshness or violence : unduly or offensively forceful
a rough breed of men
rough usage
used rough , abusive language to the umpire
a very rough society where men … violated the rights of others with impunity — W.P.Webb
(2) : marked by struggle or difficulty : trying
a rough day
a rough assignment
things are rough all over — Hamilton Basso
she had a bit of rough going — Fashion Digest
3.
a. : coarse, rugged, or unpolished in character or appearance : unrefined: as
(1) : lacking smoothness of outline or form
a rough landscape
(2) : harsh or rasping to the ear
a radio emitting only rough sounds
(3) : harsh or sharp to the taste
rough whiskey
a rough red wine
(4) : poor in quality
rough food
rough clothes
(5) : crude in style or expression
rough rhymes
(6) : indelicate
a rough anecdote for such an audience
b.
(1) : marked by a lack of civility, refinement, or grace : uncouth , primitive
rough farm workers
rough hospitality
(2) : crudely amiable : bluff
the rough kindness of … people — Harold Griffin
4.
a. : marked by crudeness or lack of finish : unpolished
rough leather
rough rice
a rough performance
sheets of rough … plate glass — Ellis Humphreys
b. : prepared or executed hastily, tentatively, or imperfectly : makeshift , approximate
a rough draft
a rough estimate
rough data
rough justice
a rough idea of how a machine operates
a rough wigwam fashioned of fir boughs — F.V.W.Mason
c. : qualified for only the cruder or simpler operations of a trade
a rough carpenter
d. : demanding mainly physical force rather than intellect
rough work
5.
a. : pronounced with aspiration
a rough vowel
b. of a stop consonant in ancient Greek : voiceless, aspirated, and fortis — compare medial 2b
6. : relatively poor — used especially of a poker hand (as in lowball); compare smooth
7. : forming rough colonies usually made up of organisms that form chains or filaments and tend to marked decrease in capsule formation and virulence — used of dissociated strains of bacteria; compare mucoid
Synonyms:
uneven , rugged , harsh , scabrous : rough is a general term wide in its use. In its first meaning rough simply indicates noticeable inequality of surface perceptible to touch
a rough edge
a rough stone
From this the word has spread to indicate lack of regularity, modulation, and polish, with most but not all of its suggestions unpleasant
the rough blow of sheer force — J.R.Green
the people of Teutonic speech had their rough verse — H.O.Taylor
rough and graceless would be such a greeting — R.W.Emerson
uneven in its first uses simply indicated lack of evenness
an uneven road
an uneven floor
In later senses it often indicates lack of uniformity or consistency of treatment
the book as a whole is an uneven achievement; for its writing ranges from the human and impassioned to the dully academic — David Hall
In its first use in reference to land surfaces rugged applies to land made very irregular and difficult by a series of irregularities, of hills and gullies, mountains and gorges
with much labor and puffing we drew ourselves up the rugged declivity — John Burroughs
Used in relation to style of composition, it stresses lack of smoothness and easy fluency
the most rugged -seeming of prose dialogue, the kind of dialogue that people sometimes praise as “simply a page torn from life” — C.E.Montague
In other uses it may suggest robust strength and endurance
I am not of a rugged constitution, and it irked me to be so feeble — C.B.Nordhoff & J.N.Hall
the rugged countenance of the stoic Julia Shane — Louis Bromfield
Litchfield was as rugged in its faith as the hills it nestled among — V.L.Parrington
Orig. meaning unpleasant to the touch because of irregularity, harsh has come to indicate that which is strongly unpleasant to any sense
the cognac was harsh — Winifred Bambrick
that cold unfeeling prison, with the harsh noise of the large key and the fetters — Anthony Trollope
It is never complimentary. In other senses it applies to either that which may make one physically uncomfortable or that which may offend feelings of kindliness or justice
the genial influence of summer commonly prevails over the harsh austerity of winter — J.G.Frazer
could not recall a harsh word that had been uttered by Amelia. She had been all sweetness and kindness — W.M.Thackeray
scabrous orig. simply indicated presence of raised protuberances, points, or dots and had no value judgments or implications
the scabrous leaf of the slippery elm
Possibly through an imagined relation with scabby, the word now has often the connotation of encrusted and may suggest the squalid or vile
tiny, scabrous stone cottages with squealing pigs on the first floor — Time
collects the scandals of the day; on these he is … a connoisseur who is consulted upon scabrous discoveries — Osbert Sitwell
Synonym: see in addition rude .
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English ruhe, rouch, from ruhe, rough, adjective
1.
a. : ground that is uneven and covered with high grass, brush, and stones
an acre of rough covered with … sumac — Gardeners' Chronicle
specifically : such ground bordering the fairway of a golf course and providing a poor lie for a golf ball
the stretch of rough for the next 15 … feet from the fairway is allowed to grow four or five inches high — R.T.Jones
— compare fairway 3
b.
(1) : vegetative cover which has been undisturbed by fire or clearing
(2) : the accumulation of underbrush, herbaceous growth, and litter characteristic of such cover
2. : the harsh or disagreeable side or aspect of something : severe treatment
learn to take the rough with the smooth
3.
a. : refuse material from mineral workings
b. roughs plural : coarse poor sands from tin dressing
4. : something in a crude, unfinished, or preliminary state: as
a. : an uncut gem stone
the huge piece of rough was cut to a superb gem of 128 carats — Jewelers' Circular-Keystone
b. : broad outline : general terms — often used with in
the question … has been discussed in rough — Manchester Guardian Weekly
c. : a hasty preliminary drawing or layout made by an artist or designer
has both roughs and finished work to show as samples — Illustrator
d. : rough proof
e. : the state of tanned leather before it has been finished — compare crust 6
5. : a coarse uncivil person ; especially : one who is disorderly or violent : rowdy , tough
a gang of these roughs broke in — Alan Paton
6. : a spike or calk inserted in a horseshoe to prevent the horse from slipping
7. : the side of a tennis racket on which the binding strings form loops around the regular lengthwise strings at the top and at the throat end of the racket
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- in the rough
III. adverb
( often -er/-est )
Etymology: rough (I)
: roughly
ride rough
the wood is rough shaped — C.L.Walker
IV. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1.
a. : to make rough : roughen
rough the edges of glass
satin garments are very easily roughed — C.B.Randall b.1901
— often used with up
a stiff breeze roughing up the sea
b. : ruffle
a bird roughing his feathers
2.
a. : to use physical force upon : manhandle , beat
not accustomed to being roughed about — Angus Mowat
— usually used with up
was roughed up and pushed into the street — Springfield (Massachusetts) Daily News
b. : to subject (an opponent) to unnecessary and intentional violence in a sport (as football, soccer, or ice hockey)
deliberately roughed the … goalkeeper — Newsweek
3.
a. : to calk or otherwise roughen (a horse's shoes) to prevent slipping — compare calk
b. chiefly Australia : to break or train (a horse) ; especially : to partially break (a horse) that is later to be trained for some special use (as military service) — now usually used with off
4.
a. : to shape, make, or dress (something) in a rough or preliminary way
rough the pieces of wood to approximately the size desired
— often used with down, off, out
rough down coarse iron
rough off timber
rough out lenses
rough out disks and housings in the quantities … needed — Aero Digest
b. : to mark or indicate the outline or chief lines of — usually used with out, sometimes with in
roughed out the general structure — M.F.A.Montagu
roughing out my preliminary ideas for this novel — Rex Ingamells
roughing in the voice parts — Deems Taylor
intransitive verb
: to subject a player to unnecessary violence in a sport
sent off the field by the referee for roughing
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- rough it