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

Spanning nearly a quarter of the lunar surface, the crater, which sits on the far side of the moon, is the largest with a diameter measuring roughly 1,550 miles (2,500 kilometers). —Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 21 Feb. 2026

This latest news comes just a few weeks after Mayweather filed a lawsuit against Showtime Networks and the former president of Showtime Sports, accusing the company of helping facilitate a fraud scheme that deprived him of roughly $340 million in earnings. —Matt Schubert, New York Times, 21 Feb. 2026

In 2024, the country experienced 27 separate billion-dollar disasters, totaling roughly $183 billion, up from nearly $93 billion the year before. —Yoca Arditi-Rocha, The Orlando Sentinel, 20 Feb. 2026

But the Spinosaurus mirabilis fossils were found far inland, roughly 300-600 miles from the nearest ocean shoreline. —Reuters, NBC news, 20 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for roughly

• gruffly