rough (up)

verb

Definition of rough (up)next
1
as in to lick
to strike repeatedly she was badly roughed up by her boxing partner

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in to abuse
to abuse physically the photographer claimed that he had been roughed up by the actor's bodyguards outside the club

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for rough (up)
  1. lick
  2. abuse
  3. hide
  4. attack
  5. pound
  6. ambush
  7. lash
  8. manhandle
Verb
  • After contracting the plague, he was banished to a cave, where a dog brought him bread and healed his wounds by licking them.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Oct. 2026
  • But the lively crew at the urinals was already licking its lips in anticipation.
    — Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of lick
Verb
  • After teenage boys first reported that they had been abused in 2005, Church of the Resurrection conducted an internal investigation that court records show was inconclusive.
    — Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Acton’s campaign on Tuesday posted a video of her brother, who supported her backstory about living in a tent and being abused.
    — Julie Carr Smyth, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of abuse
Verb
  • Russian tech companies are scrambling to harden and hide their data centers underground after Ukrainian drone strikes damaged facilities housing AI supercomputers and disrupted cloud services for millions of Russian users.
    — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Check the plant’s foliage for pests occasionally, paying particular attention to the undersides of leaves, where spider mites, scale and aphids like to hide.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of hide
Verb
  • Hawley said the majority of conflicts between humans and coyotes occurs when a pet owner tries to save their pet from an attacking coyote.
    — Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 2 Nov. 2026
  • Running as the populist candidate, Brown has repeatedly attacked Husted as the face of data centers in the state and pushed to take on Silicon Valley if elected to office again.
    — Mabinty Quarshie, The Washington Examiner, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of attack
Verb
  • Using the textured side of a meat mallet, gently pound the meat until it’s slightly flattened, creating indentations all over the surface.
    — Natalia Vela, Southern Living, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Rain pounded the region on Sunday, and one of the pilots reported icing conditions at a high altitude in communications with air traffic control.
    — David Fischer, Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of pound
Verb
  • Horace hopes the goal of the Salvadoran reinforcements isn’t solely to find the Salvadoran soldiers ambushed by the Chen Mechan gang.
    — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 30 Oct. 2026
  • Al-Shabab said its fighters ambushed a convoy advancing into territory under its control.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of ambush
Verb
  • Trump lashed out at Pirro over the admission and has continued to claim vandals were to blame.
    — Kevin Breuninger, CNBC, 2 Nov. 2026
  • The snake tried to circle and squeeze, but the rat lashed with her claws and teeth.
    — Madeline ffitch, Harpers Magazine, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of lash
Verb
  • An Osceola County deputy sheriff was arrested this week, accused of manhandling a 67-year-old woman and falsely charging her with battering him during an early-morning traffic stop, the Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday.
    — Cristóbal Reyes, The Orlando Sentinel, 28 Oct. 2026
  • He got stuffed by double-team blocks and turned away by larger Toronto wings, who manhandled the slighter forward in his attempts to create downhill momentum.
    — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of manhandle
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

roughs (up)
rough (up)
rouging
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Rough (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rough%20%28up%29. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of effrontery

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Old-Timey Vehicles

The Words of the Week - Nov. 6

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
couple-laugh-cafe
Quiz: Foreign Phrases You Should Know Check out your bona fides and avoid any faux pas.
See All