roughen

rough·en | \ ˈrə-fən

How to pronounce roughen (audio)

\

roughened; roughening\ ˈrə-fə-niŋ

How to pronounce roughening (audio)

, ˈrəf-niŋ \

Definition of roughen

transitive verb

: to make rough or rougher her hands were roughened by work— Ellen Glasgow

intransitive verb

: to become rough

Examples of roughen in a Sentence

Roughen the surface with a file before you apply the glue. Her hands were roughened by years of hard work. Age caused his skin to roughen.

Recent Examples on the Web But as cases make their way to court, the legal road for proving age discrimination, always difficult, has only roughened. — Patricia Cohen, New York Times, "New Evidence of Age Bias in Hiring, and a Push to Fight It," 7 June 2019 Upgrade Your Kitchen Step 1: Sand the backsplash wall with 80-grit sandpaper; both thinset and tile mastic will adhere better to a roughened surface. — Joseph Truini, Popular Mechanics, "Your Quick and Dirty Guide to Tiling a Kitchen Backsplash," 26 Apr. 2019 This will roughen your hair up in just the right way. — Devin Toth, Redbook, "How to Get Sexy Hair for Valentine's Day," 13 Feb. 2012 Distinctive patches of raised, roughened skin cover each right whale’s head — allowing researchers to identify individual animals. — Sarah Kaplan, Washington Post, "These whales will be extinct in 25 years, scientists say — unless we act now to save them," 20 Apr. 2018 Distinctive patches of raised, roughened skin cover each right whale’s head - allowing researchers to identify individual animals. — Sarah Kaplan, BostonGlobe.com, "N. Atlantic right whales will be extinct in 25 years, scientists say - unless we act now to save them," 20 Apr. 2018 The sandpaper was used in an attempt to roughen one side of the ball, which changes its aerodynamics while bowling — similar to a pitcher tampering with a baseball. — Tom Schad, USA TODAY, "Sandpaper scandal shakes Australian national cricket team as cheating plot revealed," 28 Mar. 2018 Textured implants have roughened surfaces that may act as an irritant in some women, provoking inflammation that can lead to lymphoma, researchers say. — Denise Grady, New York Times, "More Cases Are Reported of Unusual Cancer Linked to Breast Implants," 21 Mar. 2018 Which meant that scores of atmosphere, delicacy and refinement were roughened by the acoustics. — Alan Artner, chicagotribune.com, "Alex Klein creates warm sounds in Orion Chamber Ensemble season opener," 28 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'roughen.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about roughen

Dictionary Entries near roughen

rough endoplasmic reticulum

Statistics for roughen

Time Traveler for roughen

The first known use of roughen was in 1582

See more words from the same year

Keep scrolling for more

Keep scrolling for more

WORD OF THE DAY

carouse

to engage in dissolute behavior

Test Your Vocabulary

Pass the Little Ribbons: A Pasta Word Quiz

Match the pasta to its meaning in English: Rotelle

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.