ROUGHNESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does roughness mean? 

• ROUGHNESS (noun)
  The noun ROUGHNESS has 7 senses:

1. a texture of a surface or edge that is not smooth but is irregular and uneven

2. the quality of being harsh or rough or grating to the senses

3. an unpolished unrefined quality

4. used of the sea during inclement or stormy weather

5. rowdy behavior

6. the formation of small pits in a surface as a consequence of corrosion

7. harsh or severe speech or behavior

  Familiarity information: ROUGHNESS used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ROUGHNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A texture of a surface or edge that is not smooth but is irregular and uneven

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

raggedness; roughness

Hypernyms ("roughness" is a kind of...):

texture (the feel of a surface or a fabric)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "roughness"):

scaliness (the property of being scaly)

coarseness; nubbiness; tweediness (looseness or roughness in texture (as of cloth))

burl; knot; slub (soft lump or unevenness in a yarn; either an imperfection or created by design)

abrasiveness; harshness; scratchiness (the roughness of a substance that causes abrasions)

coarseness; graininess; granularity (the quality of being composed of relatively large particles)

shagginess (roughness of nap produced by long woolly hairs)

bumpiness (the texture of a surface that has many bumps)

bristliness; prickliness; spininess; thorniness (the quality of being covered with prickly thorns or spines)

Antonym:

smoothness (a texture without roughness; smooth to the touch)

Derivation:

rough (having or caused by an irregular surface)

rough (of the margin of a leaf shape; having the edge cut or fringed or scalloped)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of being harsh or rough or grating to the senses

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

harshness; roughness

Hypernyms ("roughness" is a kind of...):

unpleasantness (the quality of giving displeasure)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "roughness"):

gruffness; hoarseness; huskiness (a throaty harshness)

Derivation:

rough (unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An unpolished unrefined quality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

crudeness; roughness

Context example:

the crudeness of frontier dwellings depressed her

Hypernyms ("roughness" is a kind of...):

inelegance (the quality of lacking refinement and good taste)

Derivation:

rough (unpleasantly stern)

rough (not carefully or expertly made)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Used of the sea during inclement or stormy weather

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

choppiness; rough water; roughness

Hypernyms ("roughness" is a kind of...):

storminess (the state of being stormy)

Derivation:

rough (violently agitated and turbulent)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Rowdy behavior

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

disorderliness; roughness; rowdiness; rowdyism

Hypernyms ("roughness" is a kind of...):

disorder (a disturbance of the peace or of public order)

Derivation:

rough (ready and able to resort to force or violence)

rough ((of persons or behavior) lacking refinement or finesse)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The formation of small pits in a surface as a consequence of corrosion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

indentation; pitting; roughness

Hypernyms ("roughness" is a kind of...):

corroding; corrosion; erosion (erosion by chemical action)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Harsh or severe speech or behavior

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the roughness of her voice was a signal to keep quiet

Hypernyms ("roughness" is a kind of...):

intensification (action that makes something stronger or more extreme)

 Context examples 

His roughness frightened her; each roughness of speech was an insult to her ear, each rough phase of his life an insult to her soul.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

There had remained only a general impression of roughness and loudness; and now he scarcely ever noticed her, but to make her the object of a coarse joke.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Before I could obey, however, the tinker seized the handkerchief out of my hand with a roughness that threw me away like a feather, and putting it loosely round his own neck, turned upon the woman with an oath, and knocked her down.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

If even this stranger had smiled and been good-humoured to me when I addressed him; if he had put off my offer of assistance gaily and with thanks, I should have gone on my way and not felt any vocation to renew inquiries: but the frown, the roughness of the traveller, set me at my ease: I retained my station when he waved to me to go, and announced—I cannot think of leaving you, sir, at so late an hour, in this solitary lane, till I see you are fit to mount your horse.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

When these small, natural remnants of the formation of the solar system pass relatively close to Earth, deep space radar is a powerful technique for studying their sizes, shapes, rotation, surface features and roughness, and for more precise determination of their orbital path.

(Large Asteroid to Safely Pass Earth on Sept. 1, NASA)

He has nothing but roughness and coarseness to offer you in exchange for all that is refined and delicate in you.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The right of a lively mind, Fanny, seizing whatever may contribute to its own amusement or that of others; perfectly allowable, when untinctured by ill-humour or roughness; and there is not a shadow of either in the countenance or manner of Miss Crawford: nothing sharp, or loud, or coarse.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)