Thesaurus results for ROUGHING

roughing

verb

present participle of rough

as in chopping

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Recent Examples of Synonyms for roughing

Verb

Picking up the ball 30 yards from goal, Messi set off on a mazy run, chopping one way and then the other, leaving a trail of players behind him.

— Charlotte Harpur, New York Times, 10 July 2026
Last year, Katz filmed a video of his new protégé shucking oysters, chopping wood, swinging kettlebells, and speaking directly to the camera in a muddy sweatshirt about how the oligarchy had screwed their beloved state.

— Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 6 July 2026

Definition of chopping

Verb

Trey Songz has avoided jail time following his arrest last year over allegedly punching an employee at a nightclub in New York City.

— Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 23 July 2026
But that hasn’t stopped one of the country’s increasingly renowned grape-growing regions from punching well above its weight.

— Tori Latham, Robb Report, 18 July 2026

Definition of punching

Verb

Brussels, however, was less charitable with EU regulators slapping a fine of 890 million euros ($1 billion) on Google, its first penalty under the Digital Markets Act, for favoring its own services.

— Anniek Bao, CNBC, 24 July 2026
Twenty wrestlers are committed to slipping on their mawashi loincloths (don’t call it a diaper), stomping to signal their readiness (that’s a shiko) and doing some belly-slapping grappling.

— Cassidy Alexander, AJC.com, 21 July 2026

Definition of slapping

Verb

That work was far from done when a new round of storms began pummeling the state this week, triggering catastrophic flash floods in some of the same areas devastated in 2025.

— ABC News, ABC News, 18 July 2026
About 21,000 customers lost electricity when storms swept through the Carolinas Friday afternoon, prompting severe thunderstorm warnings and pummeling the Charlotte area.

— Joe Marusak, Charlotte Observer, 11 July 2026

Definition of pummeling

Verb

Larry Hayes, 86, and Bill Moniz, 79, hit the tennis courts in Mountain View three to four times a week — whacking balls across the net as teammates for one to three hours a week.

— Panashe Matemba-Mutasa, Mercury News, 27 May 2026
And the crowd clearly expected that pucks whacking the nets would be at a premium in this series, too.

— ABC News, ABC News, 4 May 2026

Definition of whacking

Verb

The surveillance footage released by police in 2012 from the night before the murder showed a person in a hoodie and baggy pants walking up the stairs outside Chavez’s apartment and knocking on the door.

— Escher Walcott, PEOPLE, 21 July 2026
Jay Harry is knocking at the door Blue Jays designated hitter Sean Keys had a front-row seat for Jay Harry’s breakout season.

— Mitch Bannon, New York Times, 21 July 2026

Definition of knocking

Verb

Heavy raindrops flew sideways, smacking against the hood of my rain jacket and creating a nearly deafening white noise.

— Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 17 July 2026
With a Triple-A pitcher called up for a spot start and a utilityman smacking an early two-run homer, the Boston Red Sox, having now won eight straight games, keep winning with an unlikely formula.

— Jen McCaffrey, New York Times, 12 July 2026

Definition of smacking

Verb

In July 2025, the San Bernardino Police Department said one of its officers fatally shot a dog after responding to an incident in which a woman later died from her injuries believed to have been caused by the dog mauling.

— Paris Barraza, USA Today, 21 July 2026
Another hiker survived a grizzly mauling on the popular Grinnell Glacier Trail just weeks later.

— Amber Harding OutKick, FOXNews.com, 16 June 2026

Definition of mauling

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“Roughing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/roughing. Accessed 26 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of roughing

verb

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