: having the characteristics of or suitable for a roughneck
Synonyms
Examples of roughneck in a Sentence
Noun
a town overrun by roughnecks
a group of roughnecks like to hang out at the roadhouse and harass people
Adjective
their roughneck antics were amusing only if you were as drunk as they were
Recent Examples on the Web
Bob Verini, Variety, 14 June 2024
Born in Clinton, Okla., and raised in Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City, Keith worked as a roughneck in the oil fields, then played as a semiprofessional football player before kicking off his music career.
—Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News, 6 Feb. 2024
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 22 May 2024
Trey Smoak’s roughneck monitor lizard was out of his sight for about 10 minutes Friday when the Crowley resident went to put up groceries.
—Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for roughneck 
Noun
The suave Powell adds just the right touch of roughneck to make Gatsby ever more the outsider.
—Bob Verini, Variety, 14 June 2024
Born in Clinton, Okla., and raised in Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City, Keith worked as a roughneck in the oil fields, then played as a semiprofessional football player before kicking off his music career.
—Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News, 6 Feb. 2024
Adjective
That sequence feels like it might have been made by one of those roughneck filmmakers in the early days of Hollywood, just hauling a lot of equipment and stuntmen out to the desert and risking their lives to make some crazed, truly dangerous action set piece.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 22 May 2024
Trey Smoak’s roughneck monitor lizard was out of his sight for about 10 minutes Friday when the Crowley resident went to put up groceries.
—Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for roughneck
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'roughneck.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Roughneck.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/roughneck. Accessed 10 Sep. 2024.
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