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 of roughly

• 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

Ukraine has retained roughly the same interception rates for drones as before the recent escalation, downing around 90% of them each month and using electronic warfare to divert some munitions away from populated areas. —Lauren Kent, CNN Money, 4 June 2026

Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, and Meta have committed roughly $700 billion this year to capital expenditures, mostly for AI infrastructure. —Annie Palmer, CNBC, 4 June 2026

The pandemic weighed on the timeline, too, forcing a delay of roughly a year and a half. —Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 June 2026

Former Sausalito mayor and environmental attorney Janelle Kellman had roughly $15,000 spent in favor of her long shot bid, while Romero saw $10,000 in outside dollars spent in support of her candidacy. —Grace Hase, Mercury News, 3 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for roughly

• gruffly