rough

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adjective

Definition of ROUGH

1

covered with or as if with hair <a face rough with a couple days' worth of beard>

Synonyms bristly, brushy, cottony, fleecy, furred, furry, hirsute, rough, shaggy, silky, unshorn, woolly (also wooly)

Related Words bearded, bewhiskered, mustachioed (also moustachioed), whiskered; stubbled, stubbly; downy, fluffy, fuzzy, linty, nappy

Near Antonyms beardless, shaved, shaven

Antonyms bald, furless, glabrous, hairless, shorn, smooth

2

marked by bursts of destructive force or intense activity <rough waters that made sailing our sloop a little risky>

Synonyms bang-bang, blood-and-guts, convulsive, cyclonic, explosive, ferocious, fierce, furious, hammer-and-tongs, hot, knock-down, drag-out (or knock-down-and-drag-out), paroxysmal, rabid, rough, stormy, tempestuous, tumultuous, turbulent, volcanic

Related Words barbarous, brutal, savage, vicious; antagonistic, hostile; aggressive, assertive, bellicose, belligerent, combative, contentious, gladiatorial, pugnacious, quarrelsome, truculent; combustible, volatile; agitated, frantic, frenzied, mad; cataclysmal (or cataclysmic), destructive, ruinous

Near Antonyms calm, halcyon, pacific, serene, tranquil; nonbelligerent, unaggressive

Antonyms nonviolent, peaceable, peaceful

3

marked by wet and windy conditions <at least wear a raincoat if you're going out into that rough weather>

Synonyms bleak, dirty, inclement, nasty, raw, rough, squally, stormy, tempestuous, turbulent

Related Words blowy, blustering, blustery, breezy, gusty, windblown, windswept; cloudy, overcast, sunless; rainy, snowy; foggy, hazy, misty, murky, soupy

Near Antonyms rainless; balmy, calm, halcyon, peaceful, placid, pleasant, serene

Antonyms bright, clear, clement, cloudless, fair, sunny, sunshiny, unclouded

4

not having a level or smooth surface <a rough board can give you splinters>

Synonyms broken, bumpy, coarse, irregular, jagged, lumpy, pebbly, ragged, rough, roughened, rugged, scraggy

Related Words lopsided, unbalanced; inexact, unaligned; rutted, rutty, undulating, undulatory, wavy; pitted, pocked; knobbly, knobby, knurled, knurly, nubbly, nubby; burred, harsh, sandpapery, scraggly, scratchy; nonuniform

Near Antonyms exact, uniform; aligned (also alined), regular, true; horizontal, tabular; plumb, straight, vertical; flush

Antonyms even, flat, level, plane, smooth

5

requiring considerable physical or mental effort <a forensics expert who willingly takes on rough assignments>

Synonyms arduous, Augean, backbreaking, challenging, demanding, difficult, effortful, exacting, formidable, grueling (or gruelling), heavy, hellacious, herculean, killer, laborious, moiling, murderous, pick-and-shovel, rigorous, rough, rugged, severe, stiff, strenuous, sweaty, tall, testing, toilsome, tough, uphill

Related Words abstract, abstruse, complex, complicated, elusive, hairy, insoluble, intricate, involved, knotty, opaque, problematic (also problematical), recondite, serious, spiny, stubborn, thorny, ticklish, tricky; bruising, burdensome, exhausting, labored, onerous, oppressive, stressful, taxing, tight, trying; annoying, bothersome, distressing, irksome, troublesome, vexatious; grievous, grim, strict, stringent; brutal, cruel, inhuman, painful

Near Antonyms achievable, clear, doable, elementary, manageable, uncomplicated; comforting, gentle, painless, relaxed, smooth, soothing; accessible, friendly, idiotproof, user-friendly

Antonyms cheap, easy, effortless, facile, light, mindless, simple, soft, undemanding

6

difficult to endure <I've had a rough time of it since I lost my job>

Synonyms bitter, brutal, burdensome, cruel, excruciating, grievous, grim, hard, hardhanded, heavy, inhuman, murderous, onerous, oppressive, rough, rugged, searing, severe, stiff, tough, trying

Related Words austere, bleak, comfortless, discomforting, forbidding, inhospitable, spartan, uncomfortable; biting, inclement, intemperate, wild; rigorous, strict, stringent; agonizing, heartbreaking, heartrending, painful, wretched; crushing, grinding, overwhelming, wearing; insufferable, insupportable, intolerable, unbearable, unendurable; harrowing, tortuous; bad, disagreeable, hostile, unfriendly, unpleasant

Near Antonyms comfortable, cozy, luxurious, snug; agreeable, friendly, genial, hospitable, pleasant; peaceful, relaxing, reposeful, restful; bearable, endurable, painless, tolerable; balmy, calm, clement, gentle, mild, moderate, temperate

Antonyms easy, light, soft

7

harsh and threatening in manner or appearance <the rough faces of hardened criminals who had spent most of their lives behind bars>

Synonyms austere, dour, fierce, flinty, forbidding, gruff, intimidating, lowering (also louring), rough, rugged, severe, stark, steely, stern, ungentle

Related Words bleak, cold, hostile, inhospitable, inimical, unfriendly, unsympathetic; adamant, bound, determined, firm, intent, purposeful, resolute, resolved, steadfast, unflinching; fixed, hard, hardened, hardheaded, immovable, implacable, inflexible, ironhanded, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, rigid, self-willed, set, stiff, stubborn, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unyielding, willful (or wilful); immutable, unchangeable; black, cheerless, dark, gloomy, glum, joyless, melancholic, moody, morose, sulky, sullen, surly; brooding, grave, humorless, melancholy, serious, sober, sobersided, solemn, somber (or sombre), staid, unsmiling, weighty

Near Antonyms bland, meek, mellow, soft, soothing; easy, quiet, tranquil; agreeable, bright, cheerful, inviting, pleasant, pleasing, sweet; glad, happy, lighthearted, merry, mirthful, sunny; featherbrained, flighty, frivolous, giddy, goofy, harebrained, light-headed, playful, scatterbrained, silly

Antonyms benign, benignant, gentle, mild, nonintimidating, tender

8

hastily or roughly constructed <made a rough camp as darkness fell over the forest>

Synonyms artless, clumsy, crude, jerry-built, jerry-rigged, jury-rigged, rough, rough-and-ready, rough-and-tumble, rough-hewn, unrefined

Related Words defective, faulty, flawed, imperfect; imprecise, inexact; inartistic, undressed, unfinished, unpolished, unworked; amateur, amateurish, inexpert, unprofessional, unskilled, unskillful; primitive, rudimentary; unshaped, unshapen

Near Antonyms faultless, finished, flawless, meticulous, perfect, perfected, polished, well-done; adept, adroit, dexterous (also dextrous), expert, masterful, masterly, neat, practiced (also practised), skillful, workmanlike; artful, artistic, sophisticated; exact, precise

Antonyms refined

9

lacking in refinement or good taste <he learned polite words to replace the rough language he had known in the slums>

Synonyms common, crass, crude, gross, ill-bred, illiberal [archaic], incult, insensible, low, lowbred, lowbrow, raffish, rough, rough-hewn, roughneck, rude, rugged, tasteless, uncouth, uncultivated, uncultured, unpolished, unrefined, vulgar

Related Words boorish, churlish, cloddish, clownish, loutish, ungentlemanly; clumsy, lubberly, lumpish, oafish; inconsiderate, indelicate, insensitive, thoughtless; countrified (also countryfied), provincial, rustic (also rustical), unsophisticated; graceless, inelegant, tacky; animallike, barbaric, barbarous, uncivilized; mannerless, unmannered, unmannerly

Near Antonyms aristocratic, courtly, patrician; elegant, graceful, restrained; considerate, gracious, sensitive, thoughtful; citified, sophisticated, urbane

Antonyms civilized, cultivated, cultured, genteel, polished, refined, smooth, tasteful, ultrarefined, well-bred

10

made of or resembling hair <a rough-coated dog who was always shedding his fur>

Synonyms furry, fuzzy, rough, shaggy, woolly (also wooly)

Related Words downy, fluffy, nappy, puffy; hairlike

11

marked by a series of sharp quick motions <a rough flight that left some passengers nauseated>

Synonyms bumpy, choppy, herky-jerky, jouncy, rough

Related Words erratic, fitful, irregular, spasmodic, spastic, unsteady; jagged, ragged, uneven

Near Antonyms calm, placid, smooth, steady, still

12

marked by turmoil or disturbance especially of natural elements <after a rough week on the high seas, we were happy to sail through the gulf's more tranquil waters>

Synonyms natural, uncultivated, untamed, virgin

Related Words native; uninhabited, unpeopled, unsettled; overgrown, spontaneous, untended; waste; undeveloped; desolate, forlorn, howling

Near Antonyms inhabited; developed; seminatural

Antonyms cultivated, tamed