# rough

Pronunciation: say "RUF" US/UK /ɹʌf/, AUS /ɹɐf/

## Adjective

1. Having an uneven or irregular surface; not smooth to the touch.
   - Simple: Having an uneven, bumpy surface and not smooth to the touch.
   - _Sandpaper has a deliberately rough surface for smoothing wood._
   - _The cave walls were cold and rough to the touch._
2. Approximate or hastily done; not carefully worked out or finished.
   - Simple: Made quickly and not exact or fully finished.
   - _The architect sketched a rough plan during the meeting._
   - _These figures are only rough estimates for now._
3. Difficult or full of hardship; trying to get through.
   - Simple: Hard to get through and full of trouble.
   - _Recovery was rough, but he pushed through the worst of it._
   - _The team faced a rough stretch of away games._
4. Turbulent; marked by violent, agitated motion, as of the sea or weather.
   - Simple: Moving in a wild, stormy way, like the sea in a storm.
   - _Sailors secured the deck before crossing the rough waters._
   - _The crossing was rough, and many passengers felt seasick._
5. Marked by force or violence; not gentle, careful, or subtle.
   - Simple: Using hard force and not being gentle or careful.
   - _The arrest looked unnecessarily rough on camera._
   - _He plays a rough, physical style of hockey._
6. Crude or unrefined; lacking polish, finish, or refinement.
   - Simple: Plain and simple, without polish or fine manners.
   - _Her early poems had a rough, unpolished energy._
   - _The frontier town had a rough charm all its own._
7. Marked by poverty and social problems, and therefore possibly dangerous.
   - Simple: Poor and full of problems, and sometimes not safe.
   - _The shelter sits in a rough neighborhood with high crime._
   - _He moved out of a rough district after the break-ins._
8. Worn, shabby, or weather-beaten in appearance.
   - Simple: Looking old and worn from hard use or bad weather.
   - _The sailor's face was rough and weathered by the sun._
   - _They restored the rough old farmhouse to its former state._
9. In a natural state; not yet cut or polished.
   - Simple: Still in a natural state and not yet cut or polished.
   - _The jeweler examined the rough gem before deciding how to cut it._
   - _Buyers inspect rough crystals for hidden flaws._
10. Loud and hoarse; harsh or grating to the ear.
   - Simple: Sounding harsh and hoarse instead of smooth and pleasant.
   - _The singer's rough, hoarse tone suited the blues._
   - _A rough, grating noise came from the old engine._
15. Harsh or sharp in taste; not smooth or mellow.
   - Simple: Having a harsh, sharp taste that is not smooth.
   - _The cider was rough and sharp, with no mellow sweetness._
   - _Critics called the new vintage rough and unbalanced._
21. Feeling ill the day after drinking too much alcohol; hungover. *(slang, Ireland, UK)*
   - Simple: Feeling sick and tired the morning after drinking too much alcohol.
   - _After the stag do he felt absolutely rough for the whole weekend._
   - _She turned up to work rough and swore off wine for good._
22. Somewhat ill or in poor physical condition. *(slang, Ireland, UK)*
   - Simple: Feeling a bit sick or in bad shape.
   - _She felt rough after the flu and stayed in bed for two days._
   - _He's looked a bit rough since the operation._
27. Relating to the rough breathing in Greek: the diacritic that marks an initial /h/ sound on a word.
   - Simple: Describing the Greek breathing mark that puts an 'h' sound before a vowel.
   - _A rough breathing over the initial vowel signals aspiration in ancient Greek._
   - _Editors mark the rough breathing with a reversed comma above the letter._

## Adverb

11. Harshly or rudely; in a forceful, not gentle manner.
   - Simple: In a hard or rude way, not gently.
   - _The bouncers treated the crowd rough that night._
   - _He grabbed her arm rough and pulled her aside._

## Noun

12. The area of long, unmowed grass bordering the fairways and greens of a golf course.
   - Simple: The long grass at the edge of a golf course that is not cut short.
   - _A wayward drive left his ball buried in the thick rough._
   - _The thick rough along the fairway punished any stray shot._
16. A preliminary sketch, larger and more detailed than a thumbnail, used to explore ideas during artistic brainstorming.
   - Simple: A quick drawing made early on to try out ideas for a picture or design.
   - _Before committing to the layout, the illustrator sketched a rough to test the composition._
   - _The art director rejected the first two roughs and asked for bolder concepts._
17. Unprocessed gemstone material in its natural state, from which faceted or cabochon gems are cut and polished.
   - Simple: Uncut stone in its natural state, before it is shaped and polished into a gem.
   - _She sorts diamond rough by clarity before any cutting begins._
   - _A skilled lapidary can read the flaws hidden inside a piece of rough._
23. A coarse, rowdy man given to bullying or violence.
   - Simple: A rude, rowdy man who likes to fight or bully others.
   - _A couple of roughs jostled passengers on the late-night train._
   - _He was no gentleman but a rough who settled arguments with his fists._
24. A scuffed, roughened area of the pitch where the bowler's feet land, targeted by spin bowlers for its unpredictable bounce.
   - Simple: A worn, scratched patch on the cricket pitch that spin bowlers aim at because the ball bounces unevenly there.
   - _He aimed at the rough and the ball spat past the batsman's edge._
   - _Bowlers exploited the rough as the surface deteriorated late in the match._
28. A metal stud or point fitted into a horseshoe to keep the animal from slipping.
   - Simple: A small metal piece put into a horseshoe to stop the horse from slipping.
   - _Each shoe carried a sharpened rough to bite into the frozen ground._
   - _The groom checked that no rough had worked loose._

## Verb

13. To create or shape something in an approximate, unfinished form.
   - Simple: To make something quickly in an unfinished, approximate way.
   - _Designers rough the layout before adding fine detail._
   - _I'll rough the outline tonight and refine it tomorrow._
14. To live for a time without the usual comforts, enduring primitive conditions.
   - Simple: To live for a while without normal comforts.
   - _Each August the family heads north to rough it by the lake._
   - _We decided to rough it, sleeping under the stars without a tent._
18. To make a surface coarse and uneven rather than smooth; to give it a textured finish.
   - Simple: To make a smooth surface coarse and bumpy instead of smooth.
   - _Builders rough the plaster slightly to help the next coat stick._
   - _Many winters of frost had roughed the once-smooth stone._
19. To commit the penalty of roughing by striking or shoving another player.
   - Simple: To hit or shove another player in a way that breaks the rules of the game.
   - _Players who rough a rival behind the play risk a two-minute penalty._
   - _He roughed the forward in the corner and headed to the box._
20. To break the rules of a contest through excessive violence.
   - Simple: To break the rules of a sport by being too violent.
   - _Fighters who rough repeatedly are penalized or disqualified._
   - _She roughed in the clinch and the referee deducted a point._
25. To break in a horse or similar animal, especially for military service.
   - Simple: To train a wild horse to accept a rider, often for army use.
   - _Recruits learned to rough green horses before they joined the regiment._
   - _She roughed the mare patiently over several weeks._
26. To roughen the surface of a horse's shoes to stop the animal from slipping.
   - Simple: To scratch or sharpen a horse's shoes so the animal won't slip on ice or smooth ground.
   - _The farrier roughed every shoe so the team could haul on frozen roads._
   - _Grooms rough the shoes whenever frost makes the yard slippery._

## Noun

29. Turbulent, boisterous weather with strong winds and heavy seas. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Wild, stormy weather with strong wind.
   - _They huddled below decks until the rough had blown itself out._
   - _The harvest was ruined by a week of rough off the Atlantic._

## Origin

From Middle English "rough" (also spelled "row", "ru", "ruh" and other ways), from Old English "rūh", from Proto-Germanic "*rūhaz". It is related to Dutch "ruig", German "rau(h)", West Frisian "rûch", and Danish "ru", all meaning "rough".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/rough (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).