gruff

1 harsh and dry in sound she had a gruff speaking voice, but a surprisingly sweet singing voice Synonyms coarse, croaking, croaky, grating, gravel, gravelly, hoarse, husky, rasping, raspy, rusty, scratchy, throatyRelated Words growling, growly, guttural; abrasive, cacophonous, discordant, grinding, jarring, rough, scraping, scratching; cawing, raucous, screeching, squawking, strident; choked, cracked, strained, strangled; dissonant, inharmonious, unmelodious, unmusicalNear Antonyms gentle, gliding, golden, liquid, mellifluent, mellifluous, mellow, soothing, sweet, tender; satiny, silken, smooth, soft, velvety; euphonious, lyric, lyrical, melodic, melodious, musical

2 harsh and threatening in manner or appearance I didn't exchange one word with the gruff mountaineer who sat next to me in the diner Synonyms austere, dour, fierce, flinty, forbidding, grim, intimidating, lowering (also louring), rough, rugged, severe, stark, steely, stern, ungentleRelated Words bleak, cold, hostile, inhospitable, inimical, unfriendly, unsympathetic; adamant, bound, determined, firm, intent, purposeful, resolute, resolved, steadfast, unflinching; fixed, hard, hardened, hardheaded, immovable, implacable, inflexible, ironhanded, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, rigid, self-willed, set, stiff, stubborn, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unyielding, willful (or wilful); immutable, unchangeable; black, cheerless, dark, gloomy, glum, joyless, melancholic, moody, morose, sulky, sullen, surly; brooding, grave, humorless, melancholy, serious, sober, sobersided, solemn, somber (or sombre), staid, unsmiling, weightyNear Antonyms bland, meek, mellow, soft, soothing; easy, quiet, tranquil; agreeable, bright, cheerful, inviting, pleasant, pleasing, sweet; glad, happy, lighthearted, merry, mirthful, sunny; featherbrained, flighty, frivolous, giddy, goofy, harebrained, light-headed, playful, scatterbrained, sillyAntonyms benign, benignant, gentle, mild, nonintimidating, tender