rough-and-tumble 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of rough-and-tumblenext
as in rough
hastily or roughly constructed the announcement of his candidacy was made from a rough-and-tumble stage put together just that morning

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

rough-and-tumble

2 of 2

noun

ˌrə-fən-ˈtəm-bəl How to pronounce rough-and-tumble (audio)
as in brawl
a rough and often noisy fight usually involving several people a rough-and-tumble broke out among the fans in the stands

Synonyms & Similar Words

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-tumble
Adjective
The startup’s rough-and-tumble experiments are even more telling. — Justine Calma, The Verge, 24 Feb. 2023
Noun
In an email to fellow members of Levine Cava’s senior staff on June 2, Morales seemed to be rallying the administration for a rough-and-tumble push to win County Commission approval of the deal. — Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 28 July 2026 Comfortable dude ranch Lone Mountain Ranch marries the region's rough-and-tumble spirit with modern hospitality. — Jesse Ashlock, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for rough-and-tumble
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rough-and-tumble
  1. rough
  2. brawl
  3. clumsy
  4. rude
  5. rough-and-ready
  6. primitive
Adjective
  • His rough exterior and no-nonsense approach tend to typecast him as a football machine devoid of personality or emotion.
    — Colton Pouncy, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Mercury's rough surface, continually reshaped by debris hurled from impact craters, may have hidden the true extent of the loss, according to the researchers whose findings appear in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of rough
Noun
  • The foul sparked an angry reaction from Bouwman’s Ajax team-mates, as Van Bommel, the son of Dutch great Marc van Bommel, raised his hands in apology, and a mass brawl between the two sets of players ensued.
    — Ali Rampling, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2026
  • Rhodes owes Orton another lick after getting punted in the head following their WrestleMania 42 Night 1 main event brawl.
    — Ryan Gaydos OutKick, FOXNews.com, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of brawl
Adjective
  • Such attempts to touch on the highly personal connections people have to Oasis’s music feel clumsy and forced, especially when juxtaposed with the brothers’ rather anonymous comments.
    — Elena Lazic, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026
  • After meeting at a society reception, Henry sets out to marry Henrietta, an endearingly clumsy, overly apologetic botanist with ambitions of discovering a new species of fern.
    — Air Mail, Air Mail, 5 Sep. 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
  • Some showstopping pieces were sold at Vivienne Westwood’s London shop Seditionaries, which revolutionized a rough-and-ready pop-culture style that still resonates to this day.
    — Siran Babayan, Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2026
  • Its Blue Armchair, on show at design exhibition Convey, is blocky and rigid with rough-and-ready industrial detailing.
    — Francesca Perry, CNN Money, 24 Apr. 2026
Definition of rough-and-ready
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

Browse Nearby Words

rough-and-ready
rough-and-tumble
rough-and-tumbles
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Rough-and-tumble.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rough-and-tumble. Accessed 15 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of quorum

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

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

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

'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

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Popular

See More

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

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
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
funny guinea pig in glasses reading a book
Challenging Words You Should Know Vol 2 Words to the wise
See All