different between rough vs smooth

English

Alternative forms

• ruff (colloquial)

Etymology

From Middle English rough, rogh, ro?e, row, rou, ru, ru?, ruh, from Old English r?g, r?h, from Proto-Germanic *r?haz. Cognate with Scots ruch, rouch (“rough”), Saterland Frisian ruuch, rouch (“rough”), West Frisian rûch (“rough”), Low German ruuch (“rough”), Dutch ruig (“rough”), German rau(h) (“rough”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /??f/
• Rhymes: -?f
• Homophone: ruff

Adjective

rough (comparative rougher, superlative roughest)

1. Not smooth; uneven.
   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 1

     The rock was one of those tremendously solid brown, or rather black, rocks which emerge from the sand like something primitive. Rough with crinkled limpet shells and sparsely strewn with locks of dry seaweed, a small boy has to stretch his legs far apart, and indeed to feel rather heroic, before he gets to the top.

2. Approximate; hasty or careless; not finished.

3. Turbulent.
   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xii:

     With my mother's permission and blessings, I set off exultantly for Bombay, leaving my wife with a baby of a few months. But on arrival there, friends told my brother that the Indian Ocean was rough in June and July, and as this was my first voyage, I should not be allowed to sail until November.

4. Difficult; trying.

5. Crude; unrefined

6. Violent; not careful or subtle

7. Loud and hoarse; offensive to the ear; harsh; grating.

   • But most by Numbers judge a Poet's song,
     And smooth or rough, with them

8. Not polished; uncut; said of a gem.

9. Harsh-tasting.

10. (chiefly Britain, colloquial, slang) Somewhat ill; sick
11. (chiefly Britain, colloquial, slang) Unwell due to alcohol; hungover

Antonyms

• smooth

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

rough (plural roughs)

1. The unmowed part of a golf course.
2. A rude fellow; a coarse bully; a rowdy.
3. (cricket) A scuffed and roughened area of the pitch, where the bowler's feet fall, used as a target by spin bowlers because of its unpredictable bounce.
4. The raw material from which faceted or cabochon gems are created.
5. A quick sketch, similar to a thumbnail but larger and more detailed, used for artistic brainstorming.
6. (obsolete) Boisterous weather.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Fletcher to this entry?)

7. A piece inserted in a horseshoe to keep the animal from slipping.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

rough (third-person singular simple present roughs, present participle roughing, simple past and past participle roughed)

1. To create in an approximate form.

2. (ice hockey) To commit the offense of roughing, i.e. to punch another player.
3. To render rough; to roughen.
4. To break in (a horse, etc.), especially for military purposes.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Crabb to this entry?)

5. To endure primitive conditions.
6. (transitive) To roughen a horse's shoes to keep the animal from slipping.

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

rough (comparative more rough, superlative most rough)

1. In a rough manner; rudely; roughly.

Derived terms

• sleep rough

English

Alternative forms

• smeeth (dialectal)
• (verb): smoothe

Etymology

From Middle English smoothe, smothe, smethe, from Old English sm?þ and Old English sm?þe, both from Proto-Germanic *smanþaz, *smanþiz, of unknown origin. Cognate with Scots smuith (“smooth”), Low German smood and smödig (“smooth, malleable, ductile”), Dutch smeuïg (“smooth”) (from earlier smeudig).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /smu?ð/
• Rhymes: -u?ð

Adjective

smooth (comparative smoother, superlative smoothest)

1. Having a texture that lacks friction. Not rough.
   • 1695, John Dryden (translator), Observations on the Art of Painting by Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy

     The outlines must be smooth, […] imperceptible to the touch, and even, without eminence or cavities.

   • “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, […].
2. Without difficulty, problems, or unexpected consequences or incidents.
3. Bland; glib.

   • This smooth discourse and mild behavior oft / Conceal a traitor.
4. Flowing or uttered without check, obstruction, or hesitation; not harsh; fluent.
   • 1670, John Milton, The History of Britain

     the only smooth poet of those times}}

   • 1713, John Gay, The Fan

     When sage Minerva rose, / From her sweet lips smooth elocution flows.

5. (of a person) Suave; sophisticated.
6. (of an action) Natural; unconstrained.
7. (of a motion) Unbroken.
8. (chiefly of water) Placid, calm.
9. (of an edge) Lacking projections or indentations; not serrated.
10. (of food or drink) Not grainy; having an even texture.
11. (of a beverage) Having a pleasantly rounded flavor; neither rough nor astringent.
12. (mathematics, of a function) Having derivatives of all finite orders at all points within the function’s domain.
13. (mathematics, of a number) That factors completely into small prime numbers.
14. (linguistics, classical studies, of a vowel) Lacking marked aspiration.
15. (of muscles, medicine) Involuntary and non-striated.

Synonyms

• (having a texture lacking friction): even
• (without difficulty or problems): fluid

Antonyms

• rough
• uneven
• bumpy

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

smooth (comparative smoother, superlative smoothest)

1. Smoothly.

Noun

smooth (plural smooths)

1. Something that is smooth, or that goes smoothly and easily.

   • The smooth of his neck.

   • 1862, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Adventures of Philip

     I think you and I will take the ups and the downs , the roughs and the smooths of this daily existence and conversation
2. A smoothing action.
3. A domestic animal having a smooth coat.
4. A member of an anti-hippie fashion movement in 1970s Britain.
5. (statistics) The analysis obtained through a smoothing procedure.

Translations

Verb

smooth (third-person singular simple present smooths, present participle smoothing, simple past and past participle smoothed)

1. (transitive) To make smooth or even.

   Synonym: smoothen

2. (transitive) To reduce to a particular shape or form by pressure; to press, to flatten.

3. (transitive) To make straightforward or easy.
   • 2007, Beth Kohn, Lonely Planet Venezuela (page 379)

     Caracas can be a tough place but the tremendously good-natured caraqueños smoothed my passage every step of the way.

4. (transitive) To calm or palliate.

   to smooth a person's temper

5. (statistics, image processing, digital audio) To capture important patterns in the data, while leaving out noise.
6. (West Country) To stroke; especially to stroke an animal's fur.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• smoothing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• shtoom