roughly

adverb

rough·​ly ˈrə-flē 

1

: in a rough manner: such as

a

: with harshness or violence

treated the prisoner roughly

b

: in crude fashion : imperfectly

roughly dressed lumber

2

: without completeness or exactness : approximately

roughly 20 percent

Synonyms

• approximately
• about
• around

Examples of roughly in a Sentence

Roughly translated, it means “hurry up!”.

The new product is modeled roughly on an earlier design.

He threw the package roughly in the truck.

The guard told us roughly that we had to stand back.

Recent Examples on the Web

Clinics that deployed those tools saw denial rates drop by up to 45%, shaving a median nine days off accounts receivable cycles and preserving roughly $1.4 million in annual savings per 100-bed equivalent each year. —Sally Ragab, Forbes.com, 26 June 2025

The project is expected to cost roughly $95 million, according to commission documents. —Sofi Zeman, Kansas City Star, 26 June 2025

Visitors to the Presidio of San Francisco, a National Historic Landmark and former military garrison with a complex history seemed unimpressed by the small black-and-white sign placed on a coffee table at roughly shin-level near the Presidio's welcome center on a recent morning. —Chloe Veltman, NPR, 26 June 2025

Once these clumps grow to about 50 nanometers (roughly the diameter of a virus) moisture condenses around them into cloud droplets. —Max G. Levy, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for roughly

• gruffly