roughly
/ˈɹʌf.li/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.36 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
In a rough manner; without kindness, softness, or gentleness.
adv
Unevenly or irregularly.
adv
Without precision or exactness; imprecisely but close to in quantity or amount; approximately.
Example Sentences
- "They treated the prisoners roughly [...] slashing pitilessly with their whips to drive them as wretched animals before them."
- "Satanism can be divided, roughly, into two branches: the Luciferians and the Palladists."
- "Of the roughly 400 emerging infectious diseases that have been identified since 1940, more than 60% are zoonotic: ie they came from animals. Throughout history this has been common."
Etymology
Etymology tree English rough Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly English -ly English roughly From rough + -ly.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɹʌf.li/
- British English: /ˈɹʌf.li/
Inflected Forms
roughlier (comparative)
more roughly (comparative)
roughliest (superlative)
most roughly (superlative)