adverb

• 1In a manner lacking gentleness; harshly or violently.

  ‘the man picked me up roughly’

  More example sentences

  • ‘She grunted, her eyes widening as his knee pushed into her stomach roughly and violently.’
  • ‘Liadan's almond eyes narrow as she pulls her hands roughly out of his gentle grip.’
  • ‘The mate roughly picked him up off the deck and held him with his feet just touching ground, looking disgusted.’
  • ‘He grabbed Sapphire's hand roughly, picked up the pizza boxes with the other arm, and walked out.’
  • ‘She had only been sitting for a couple of minutes when she was roughly picked up and thrown up against the nearest wall.’
  • ‘Someone picked me up and roughly carried me out of the car.’
  • ‘She flung the cloth to the floor with rage and picked up the cage roughly, slamming it on a small rickety table harder than she had intended.’
  • ‘Reyna stood and leapt at Vincent, but he slapped her away roughly and she was knocked harshly against a table.’
  • ‘A chauffeur opened the door and Natalie was roughly shoved into the back of the limo with Evan right behind her.’
  • ‘Her small hand took my chin roughly and she forced me to look at her.’
  • ‘He looked back at her, roughly wiping any traces of tears from his eyes.’
  • ‘At once, they both came forward and grabbed David, roughly holding him back.’
  • ‘I brushed my hair roughly and chose a nice pair of silver hoops.’
  • ‘Six other guards stepped forward and roughly grabbed Maria, Andrea, and Jackie.’
  • ‘Harmony's lips were pressed roughly onto his, and he didn't know what to do.’
  • ‘He set the plate down on the mattress roughly and then crouched down in front of her.’
  • ‘She tensed as strong arms dragged her roughly from the vehicle, and deposited her on the freezing floor.’
  • ‘Hala stalked over to the edge of the clearing and roughly grabbed a strong branch off the ground.’
  • ‘The doors opened and they were roughly herded into a deteriorating brick structure.’
  • ‘I think it's a very strong material and I actually handle it quite roughly.’

  Synonyms

  violently, forcefully, forcibly, abruptly, unceremoniously

  harshly, unkindly, severely, unsympathetically

  View synonyms

• 2In a manner lacking refinement and precision.

  ‘people were crouching over roughly built brick fireplaces’

  More example sentences

  • ‘It is roughly built but the roof is nevertheless sound enough to keep the interior completely dry.’
  • ‘It was rectangular and about the length of my hand, and was wrapped roughly in brown paper, like it had been done in a hurry.’
  • ‘The buildings looked mainly to be made of wood and roughly cut stone and many farmyard animals were walking around.’
  • ‘Everyone was silent on the rest of the walk to the roughly cut door.’
  • ‘He let his two companions look for a moment longer before walking on down a roughly paved street, Cale and Sam following absent-mindedly.’

• 3Approximately.

  ‘this is a walk of roughly 13 miles’

  More example sentences

  • ‘the narrative is, roughly speaking, contemporary with the earliest of the gospels’
  • ‘That lack of change means that the economy was, roughly speaking, growing at its potential rate.’
  • ‘I think all writers, roughly speaking, are in the education business.’
  • ‘In Bordeaux, however, the jeroboam is five litres - roughly equal to six bottles or a half case.’
  • ‘It occupies an area of 56,136 square miles and is roughly the size of Tennessee.’
  • ‘My annual visit to Cornwall involves a round trip of about 475 miles, which will cost roughly £214.’
  • ‘Each does roughly the same thing, and there is a fair amount of overlap among these standards.’
  • ‘The health status of Greek citizens is roughly equivalent to that of Western Europe.’
  • ‘Micheal picked me up for the Senior Prom that night at roughly nine o'clock.’
  • ‘Each player picks up a small pile of roughly 22 cards from either of the two piles.’
  • ‘He picked up a piece, a shard of metal roughly the same shape and size as his index finger.’
  • ‘This new film, Full Frontal, was savaged by critics and stayed in theaters for roughly four hours.’
  • ‘Oconomowoc is, in fact, a town in southern Wisconsin, roughly halfway between Milwaukee and Madison.’
  • ‘Cirro Stratus condensed to form one giant mist roughly the size of Japan.’
  • ‘The cannon that was protecting Billy was absolutely huge, roughly the size of a semi-truck.’
  • ‘Her shoes matched the dress, and made her roughly six feet tall.’
  • ‘The identity of the bad guy is telegraphed through after roughly twenty minutes.’
  • ‘Here are my thoughts on the remaining contenders, in roughly ascending order of preference.’
  • ‘Logs were laid in a roughly circular manner around the fire pit and there were some rough chairs as well.’
  • ‘The patronas call them chacha, gata, or criada - roughly translatable as wench.’
  • ‘The name of this ship is the In'jiken, roughly translated meaning Native Beast.’

  Synonyms

  approximately, about, around, round about, in the region of, something like, in the area of, in the neighbourhood of, of the order of, or so, or thereabouts, there or thereabouts, more or less, give or take a few, plus or minus a few

  View synonyms