- the rough[singular] the part of a golf course where the grass is long, making it more difficult to hit the ball
- His second shot ended up in the rough.
- [countable] (specialist) the first version of a drawing or design that has been done quickly and without much detail
- Only the best of the roughs are shown to the editor.
- [countable] (old-fashioned, informal) a violent person
- a gang of roughs
in golf
drawing/design
violent person
Word OriginOld English rūh, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch ruw and German rauh.
Idioms
See rough in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarya bit of rough
- (British English, slang) a person of a low social class who has a sexual relationship with somebody of a higher class
in rough
- (especially British English) if you write or draw something in rough, you make a first version of it, not worrying too much about mistakes or details
- Write it out in rough first then copy it neatly into your notebook.
take the rough with the smooth
- to accept the unpleasant or difficult things that happen in life as well as the good things
Check pronunciation:
rough