in the rough
idiom
chiefly US
: in an unfinished or rough state
He admired the beauty of nature in the rough.
Some of the turquoise is polished and some is in the rough.
Examples of in the rough in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Warter and Wishard were among eight people who have drowned since Thursday while swimming in the rough waters of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, according to officials.
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Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 23 June 2024
In time, the jihadists came to dominate the illicit trade, leveraging their position in the rough Algerian–Malian border regions to establish strong ties to both transnational cartels and local gangs across North Africa.
—Aisha Ahmad, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 2017
Swimming is generally discouraged in the rough waters off the coast of Marin County, and shark attacks are rare, authorities said.
—Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 2 Oct. 2023
Sparkling like a rhinestone in the rough, Ponyboi stands out amid a lineup of cartoon gangsters, tough-guy dealers and gum-smacking prostitutes — lowlifes recycled from a hundred late-night cable movies with superficially similar plots.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 26 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for in the rough 
Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 23 June 2024
In time, the jihadists came to dominate the illicit trade, leveraging their position in the rough Algerian–Malian border regions to establish strong ties to both transnational cartels and local gangs across North Africa.
—Aisha Ahmad, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 2017
Swimming is generally discouraged in the rough waters off the coast of Marin County, and shark attacks are rare, authorities said.
—Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 2 Oct. 2023
Sparkling like a rhinestone in the rough, Ponyboi stands out amid a lineup of cartoon gangsters, tough-guy dealers and gum-smacking prostitutes — lowlifes recycled from a hundred late-night cable movies with superficially similar plots.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 26 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for in the rough
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'in the rough.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“In the rough.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in%20the%20rough. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.
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