1
as in disrespectful
showing a lack of manners or consideration for others
it's rude to call someone "ugly"
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in clumsy
hastily or roughly constructed
a rude shelter built from unfinished logs by some forgotten pioneer
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in primitive
belonging to or characteristic of an early level of skill or development
rude stone tools
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in crass
lacking in refinement or good taste
a comedian who uses a lot of rude language in his nightclub act
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
5
as in barbarian
not civilized
missionaries who believed that it was their duty to convert the rude peoples of the world
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
6
as in ignorant
lacking in education or the knowledge gained from books
rude hillbillies they might have been, but they produced music with real poignancy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
7
as in crude
being such as found in nature and not altered by processing or refining
rude pelts that were sent to Europe to be fashioned into elegant hats and coats
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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 rude
The strength of your answer doesn’t require you to be rude.
—
John Richardson
attia Qureshi, CNBC, 22 May 2026
Petrie didn’t only celebrate his own hits but pointed to rival shows like Sky’s Saturday Night Live UK and Prime Video’s Last One Laughing as proof that British comedy is in rude health.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 13 May 2026
Elizabeth continues to be an infuriating character, interrupting with rude and unhelpful asides throughout the entire family meeting, casually gnawing on an orange slice as Greg and Katie have a heart-to-heart across the table.
—Erin Qualey, Vulture, 11 May 2026
If Pan American Airways represented, at its height, victory and suavity, the country achieving a kind of European state of grace, then Spirit was the exact opposite—synonymous with the rowdy and the rude at the heart of the American character.
—Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 9 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for rude
John Richardson
attia Qureshi, CNBC, 22 May 2026
Petrie didn’t only celebrate his own hits but pointed to rival shows like Sky’s Saturday Night Live UK and Prime Video’s Last One Laughing as proof that British comedy is in rude health.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 13 May 2026
Elizabeth continues to be an infuriating character, interrupting with rude and unhelpful asides throughout the entire family meeting, casually gnawing on an orange slice as Greg and Katie have a heart-to-heart across the table.
—Erin Qualey, Vulture, 11 May 2026
If Pan American Airways represented, at its height, victory and suavity, the country achieving a kind of European state of grace, then Spirit was the exact opposite—synonymous with the rowdy and the rude at the heart of the American character.
—Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 9 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for rude
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rude
Adjective
-
The most recent incident quickly sparked backlash online, with many commenters criticizing the tourist’s behavior as disrespectful.—
Kelly McGreal,
FOXNews.com,
19 May 2026
-
Harris also reported disrespectful talk between the groups, which Ng said amounted to challenges.—
Sharon Bernstein,
Sacbee.com,
11 May 2026
Adjective
-
But a clumsy tackle and a penalty shootout later, and Arsenal left Budapest with nothing.—
Ben Church,
CNN Money,
30 May 2026
-
Once in the water, where crocodiles have the home-ground advantage, large mammals become clumsy, oxygen-limited and vulnerable to rotational forces they are poorly equipped to resist.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2026
Adjective
-
Campsites The park has two primitive (no hookups) campsites—one in each of the two main units.—
Julia Sayers Gokhale,
Midwest Living,
1 June 2026
-
Most subsea drones can only trade sparse, primitive status blips.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
1 June 2026
Adjective
-
The service There’s nothing as crass as a check-in desk here.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 June 2026
-
In fact, the very term anti-Semitism was popularized by Wilhelm Marr, a German nationalist who sought to distinguish his anti-Jewish ideology from the crass bigotry of the common folk by dressing his hate up in pseudoscientific terms.—
Yair Rosenberg,
The Atlantic,
31 May 2026
Adjective
-
For the design of the barbarian figure, Sweet reached out to Mark Taylor, an artist and designer at Mattel.—
Sanat Pai RaikarAll,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
4 May 2026
-
When the Western Roman Empire fell in the fifth century C.E., Europe was plunged into chaos as barbarian Germanic forces advanced south—or so the story goes.—
Emma Gometz,
Scientific American,
29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Trump cut education aid, people got ignorant.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
22 May 2026
-
While some plaintiffs who took the bait may have been only grossly ignorant, certainly some were guilty of bad faith, anti-Blackness, and opportunistic collaboration with white supremacy.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
21 May 2026
Adjective
-
Some do this flippantly, but reader Robin suggested drivers who do this do not care and are flat-out discourteous.—
Doug Turnbull,
AJC.com,
11 Jan. 2026
-
In 2014, he was found to have been discourteous and used force.—
Milena Malaver,
Miami Herald,
7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Together, the findings in chimpanzees and bonobos suggest a rudimentary form of syntax, the rules that govern word order in human language and give it flexibility and creativity.—
Katie Hunt,
CNN Money,
3 June 2026
-
But those tells generally show up only in Claude’s most rudimentary outputs.—
Jay Caspian Kang,
New Yorker,
2 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Rude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rude. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
