rough-edged

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-edged One of the things Sean Baker does exceptionally well is draw us into a vivid and highly specific milieu, nurturing our affections for characters who are rough-edged, to put it mildly, and then whip up a vortex of steadily escalating chaos. David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 May 2024 Foster’s version of Sarah was more defiant and rough-edged than the producers and the director, Jonathan Kaplan, wanted. Jordan Kisner, The Atlantic, 18 Feb. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rough-edged
Adjective
  • Zendaya’s black sweater may be Louis Vuitton and her sunglasses Bottega Veneta, but everything feels lived-in and effortless, somehow including her massive engagement ring worn on unpolished fingers.
    Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 28 Mar. 2025
  • The tradeoff, often, is that these unpolished gems shine a bit brighter — and Campbell is certainly an example.
    Jeff Rueter, The Athletic, 21 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s wheelchair was famously hidden from the public, though his ailment was not necessarily a secret, just considered uncouth to talk about.
    Haisten Willis, The Washington Examiner, 12 Apr. 2025
  • Bell, a Ritchie regular, offers an uncouth but equally menacing counterpoint to Brosnan, a mobster who isn’t pretending that he’s crawled out of the muck.
    Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Through Brooker’s extremist-yet-hyper-realistic plot points, Black Mirror’s swing at detailing how human demise comes from our outward attachments to technology operates heavily with big doses of dark comedy and unrefined human emotion.
    Malik Peay, Essence, 17 Apr. 2025
  • The engine sounds raspy and unrefined, and the power output feels lethargic and underwhelming.
    Michael Harley, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • For their part, the Russians considered the Mizrahim—indeed, most Israelis—loud, uncultured boors.
    Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 5 Oct. 2024
  • Inserting two distinct forms of the gene into clusters of uncultured cells, the team discovered that the form of NOVA1 found in H. neanderthalensis created bumpier blobs of brain tissue when cultured, while the form of NOVA1 found in H. sapiens created smooth, spherical clumps.
    Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 1 Mar. 2023
Adjective
  • One recent exhibit displayed a series of rough-hewn public fountains that evoked post-apocalyptic decay.
    Joshua Yaffa, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2025
  • Moroney has built her profile as a prolific songwriter with a rough-hewn voice reminiscent of early Miley Cyrus.
    Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 12 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • After bushwhacking through uncultivated wilderness, the ground team found the woman, the Coast Guard said.
    Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 11 Dec. 2024
  • Heathcliff Heaths are areas of open, uncultivated land.
    Anna Moeslein, Parents, 22 July 2024
Adjective
  • The Europeans were enchanted by the expressive fluency that the New York critics had considered vulgar.
    David Denby, The Atlantic, 1 Apr. 2025
  • The chief spoke at the LAPD’s Police Commission weekly meeting Tuesday, a day after news broke that officers from the department’s recruitment and employment division had been unknowingly recorded making vulgar comments, including while talking about police applicants.
    Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Not because Johansen — who died Feb. 28 at the age of 75 — was one of those folksingers associated with the neighborhood, but because his first major band, the New York Dolls, made its name and proudly trashy reputation at the Mercer Arts Center, a multi-tiered performance space in the Village.
    David Browne, Rolling Stone, 2 Mar. 2025
  • Netflix serves all possible audiences, from high-minded documentary viewers to families that love sitcoms to the biggest fans of the trashiest reality TV.
    PCMAG, PCMAG, 27 Feb. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Rough-edged.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rough-edged. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.

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