rough draft

noun

: a first version of something (such as a document) that needs a lot of editing and rewriting

I just completed a rough draft of my speech.

Examples of rough draft in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Journalism, we are told, is the first rough draft of history. — Scott Baldauf, Christian Science Monitor, 4 May 2026

Some employees now paste a rough draft into AI and send whatever comes back. — Dr. Diane Hamilton, Forbes.com, 3 May 2026

Thomas Jefferson’s rough draft has marks signaling where the reader should pause briefly, or take a longer pause. — Thomas Tweed, The Conversation, 24 Apr. 2026

After being released from prison in 2023, Panahi sent a rough draft of It Was Just an Accident to Mahmoudian to refine the dialogue. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 1 Feb. 2026

Rhymes for rough draft

• abaft
• aircraft
• camshaft
• crankshaft
• downdraft
• engraft
• priestcraft
• redraft
• schoolcraft
• spacecraft
• stagecraft
• statecraft