as in sternness
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Recent Examples of gruffness
Mackay and Turner are both excellent, two movie stars who seem totally game to be asked to move with real gruffness.
—
Sam Bodrojan, IndieWire, 7 Sep. 2025
Sam Bodrojan, IndieWire, 7 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gruffness
Noun
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Yet behind his sternness lived a man of reflection and sensitivity, whose words and verses hinted at a gentleness rarely shown.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
13 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Internal bleeding covers a wide range of severity, from life-threatening injuries to bruising.—
Natalie Neysa Alund,
USA Today,
14 Jan. 2026
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Moore said the department has since adjusted both its tactics and decision-making protocols for wildland fires, particularly in high fire severity zones.—
Teresa Liu,
Daily News,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The noise cancellation is legendary, and the sound is balanced and clean, with no weird bass boosting or treble harshness.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
1 Dec. 2025
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The harshness of the rhetoric reflects just how much Moscow stands to lose if the deal holds and TRIPP become a reality.—
Ilan Berman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
14 Nov. 2025
Noun
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After years of fighting for its survival in the face of hacks and growing regulatory hostility, crypto’s fortunes abruptly change.—
Leo Schwartz,
Fortune,
8 Jan. 2026
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Jewish and civil rights groups blasted the move as weakening safeguards, fueling criticism that Mamdani’s early agenda signals hostility toward Israel and the Jewish community.—
Staff,
FOXNews.com,
8 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Less than a minute later, Kerr found a new level of vehemence after the Clippers’ John Collins wasn’t called for goaltending on a shot by Gary Payton II.—
Steve Henson,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Jan. 2026
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Such vehemence looked awkward just a few hours later, when The Athletic broke the news that, on December 20, Barca would actually be visiting Villarreal’s Estadio de la Ceramica after all.—
Dermot Corrigan,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Not to mention that the elevators installed since 1990, beset by age, weather, vandalism, pee, and the general relentlessness of the New York City environment, seemed to break down as often as not.—
Christopher Bonanos,
Curbed,
15 Dec. 2025
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French filmmaker David Moreau’s MadS is in some ways the platonic ideal of the one-shot film, using the lack of cuts to create a sense of propulsion and relentlessness that mirrors its characters’ descent into hell.—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
16 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Gruffness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gruffness. Accessed 22 Jan. 2026.
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