as in clumsy
hastily or roughly constructed
a rough-and-ready shack that the explorers threw together as winter approached
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Recent Examples of rough-and-ready
The brand showed off its novel approach to creating a modern version of a vintage Land Rover Defender replete with switch panels for off-road performance and accessories and a rough-and-ready chassis design.
—
Scotty Reiss, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025
Their rough-and-ready vérité shooting style creates an intimacy with the subject that deepens the emotional response to music that for many of us is ingrained in our DNA.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Nov. 2024
James meets rough-and-ready cowboy Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott) upon arrival in Fort Worth and joins his wagon train heading West.
—Rendy Jones, EW.com, 9 Aug. 2024
That means looks or labels that are forged in the sweat and heat of the city’s legendary nightlife and its edgy, rough-and-ready street style.
—Cathrin Schaer, WWD, 3 Sep. 2019
As Singer’s book documents, Siskel and Ebert’s frequent riffs about their show amount to a rough-and-ready touchstone—even a questionnaire—for critics of all stripes to ponder.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 17 Nov. 2023
Iteration is crucial in video-game design Typically a video-game project starts with the team throwing together a few rough-and-ready first drafts to make sure the concept works.
—IEEE Spectrum, 26 June 2023
They're all looked after by their gruff, rough-and-ready sometimes-mama, Raleigh (Laurie Metcalf).
—Emlyn Travis, EW.com, 2 June 2023
Prototypes from any company are often very rough-and-ready at the beginning.
—David Phelan, Forbes, 20 Apr. 2023
Scotty Reiss, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025
Their rough-and-ready vérité shooting style creates an intimacy with the subject that deepens the emotional response to music that for many of us is ingrained in our DNA.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Nov. 2024
James meets rough-and-ready cowboy Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott) upon arrival in Fort Worth and joins his wagon train heading West.
—Rendy Jones, EW.com, 9 Aug. 2024
That means looks or labels that are forged in the sweat and heat of the city’s legendary nightlife and its edgy, rough-and-ready street style.
—Cathrin Schaer, WWD, 3 Sep. 2019
As Singer’s book documents, Siskel and Ebert’s frequent riffs about their show amount to a rough-and-ready touchstone—even a questionnaire—for critics of all stripes to ponder.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 17 Nov. 2023
Iteration is crucial in video-game design Typically a video-game project starts with the team throwing together a few rough-and-ready first drafts to make sure the concept works.
—IEEE Spectrum, 26 June 2023
They're all looked after by their gruff, rough-and-ready sometimes-mama, Raleigh (Laurie Metcalf).
—Emlyn Travis, EW.com, 2 June 2023
Prototypes from any company are often very rough-and-ready at the beginning.
—David Phelan, Forbes, 20 Apr. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rough-and-ready
Adjective
-
And Hank’s own clumsy attempts at hypermasculine child-rearing often come from his father, Cotton (Toby Huss).—
Daniel Dockery,
Vulture,
7 July 2025
-
Gone are are the days of clumsy imagery and texts and fake sign-in pages that can be detected in an instant.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
3 July 2025
Adjective
-
Most young kids who are just getting used to their animal friends tend to be a little rough with them at first.—
Marilyn La Jeunesse,
Parents,
9 July 2025
-
His second and third seasons were especially rough.—
Aaron Portzline,
New York Times,
8 July 2025
Adjective
-
China's demand for petrol and diesel is falling as electric vehicle sales surge, but the trend is being masked by the country's massive strategic stockpiling of crude oil, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.—
Jenni Reid,
CNBC,
11 July 2025
-
The Fort Worth water department is using the Village Creek Drying Beds as part of an emergency response to a spill of 2,600 barrels of crude oil near Lake Arlington in early May.—
Cody Copeland,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
11 July 2025
Adjective
-
Most commenters support the original poster, writing that the aunt and uncle are the rude people in this situation.—
Sabrina Weiss,
People.com,
10 July 2025
-
Stand up to anyone who bullies you, and call people out who are rude or behaving badly.—
Bryan Robinson,
Forbes.com,
9 July 2025
Adjective
-
The trappings of the Senate were another world from Mr. Abourezk’s rough-and-tumble childhood on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, where his Lebanese parents had immigrated and ran a general store.—
STEPHEN GROVES,
BostonGlobe.com,
25 Feb. 2023
-
The startup’s rough-and-tumble experiments are even more telling.—
Justine Calma,
The Verge,
24 Feb. 2023
Adjective
-
Houde said these mammoth animals are a primitive group of proboscideans ('elephantoids') from which modern elephants evolved.—
Joseph J. Kolb,
Fox News,
18 July 2017
-
Many are primitive and remote, and don’t have restrooms or water.—
OregonLive.com,
OregonLive.com,
12 July 2017
Adjective
-
What began as rudimentary chatbots programmed to respond to queries based on keywords eventually evolved into GenAI.—
Vivek Ahuja,
Forbes.com,
11 July 2025
-
From behind the fence, at the white hut, a rudimentary but powerful loudhailer and speaker system is set up, from which a commentator fills every second of dead air with excitable exhortations to Allah combined with knowledgeable play-by-play analysis in machine-gun fast Arabic.—
Camilla Wright,
semafor.com,
11 July 2025
Adjective
-
Maryland’s home detention/electronic monitoring system is flawed and needs fixing.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
11 July 2025
-
Jess and Felix, by contrast, are real, funny, messy, horny, flawed people.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
10 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rough-and-ready.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rough-and-ready. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
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