ROUGH-AND-READY Synonyms: 58 Similar and Opposite Words

rough-and-ready

adjective

ˌrə-fən-ˈre-dē

Definition of rough-and-ready

as in clumsy

hastily or roughly constructed a rough-and-ready shack that the explorers threw together as winter approached

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Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of rough-and-ready Black South African soccer developed its own clubs, its own superstars, and its own rough-and-ready style. — Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2026 The brand showed off its novel approach to creating a modern version of a vintage Land Rover Defender replete with switch panels for off-road performance and accessories and a rough-and-ready chassis design. — Scotty Reiss, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025 Star chefs from Japan and abroad are shaking up the dining scene with inventive gastronomy, though delicious casual eats from rough-and-ready street stalls and mom-and-pop shops are still Osaka's calling card. — Melinda Joe, Condé Nast Traveler, 15 Mar. 2025 But grit, rawness and dirty-realist poetry can be elusive elements to conjure, even in a production that cultivates those qualities with a rough-and-ready feel for the scrappy, sweaty storytelling of another era. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019 See All Example Sentences for rough-and-ready

Recent Examples of Synonyms for rough-and-ready

Adjective

Such episodes now look like clumsy moments in a decade of dissembling.

— Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026
Yirenki’s challenge on Christos Tzolis is clumsy, but well short of a first yellow card, let alone a second.

— Graham Scott, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of clumsy

Adjective

For instance, your colleagues may be very agreeable and kind to their boss but rude to their more junior colleagues, or the cafeteria waiter.

— Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026
Totally ignoring the humanity of both worker and customer is rude, and yet both parties are interested in getting on with whatever the transaction is.

— Judith Martin, Mercury News, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of rude

Adjective

Between these spaces exists a world balanced on the edge of the modern and the primitive, the high-tech and the rural, the corporeal and the mythic.

— Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 31 Aug. 2026
When the Followers began, healthcare on the Western frontier was primitive, unsanitary and riddled with con artists peddling fake cures.

— Audrey Dutton, ProPublica, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of primitive

Adjective

Within these confines the main characters register as aliens; Wendy and Jack aren’t just flustered but people who seem to have never been inculcated with a rudimentary sense of social propriety.

— Vadim Rizov, Variety, 2 Sep. 2026
Using rudimentary 3-D animation tools, the film looks janky, with sharp edges and bad editing.

— Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 24 Aug. 2026

Definition of rudimentary

Adjective

And yet, when Szumowska and Englert portray Fyodor’s reaction to the couple’s pregnancy, the birth of their child, and a subsequent tragedy, Anna’s adoration for this utterly flawed man almost feels justified.

— Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026
But the diagnosis dominating today’s political discourse is fundamentally flawed.

— Norbert J. Michel, Washington Post, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of flawed

Browse Nearby Words

rough

rough-and-ready

rough-and-tumble

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“Rough-and-ready.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rough-and-ready. Accessed 10 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of rough-and-ready

adjective

Example Sentences

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