1
[ adverb ] (of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct

Examples

"lasted approximately an hour" "he's about 30 years old" "some forty people came" "weighs around a hundred pounds" "roughly $3,000" "holds 3 gallons, more or less" "20 or so people were there"

Used in print

(Newton Stallknecht, "Ideas and Literature," in Newton S...)

An idea , let us say , may be roughly defined as a theme or topic with which our reflection may be concerned .

(Ralph B. Long. The Sentence and Its Parts: A...)

In the second sentence if drinking water is a gerundial clause and without drinking water is roughly equivalent in meaning to unless I drink water , there will be stronger stress on water than on drinking ; but if drinking is a gerundial noun modifying water and without drinking_water is equivalent_to without water for drinking , there will be stronger stress on drinking than on water .

2
[ adverb ] with roughness or violence (`rough' is an informal variant for `roughly')

Synonyms

rough

Examples

"he was pushed roughly aside" "they treated him rough"

3
[ adverb ] with rough motion as over a rough surface

Synonyms

rough

Examples

"ride rough"

Used in print

(Joseph Chadwick, No Land Is Free....)

They trailed him across the wide hallway to the parlor , four roughly garbed and tough looking men who probably had never before ventured into such a house .

Related terms

rough rough

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