as in vulgar
lacking in refinement or good taste
their roughneck antics were amusing only if you were as drunk as they were
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in thug
a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang
a group of roughnecks like to hang out at the roadhouse and harass people
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of roughneck
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 10 June 2025
Where was Benn, their leader and roughneck captain, when Evan Bouchard gave Hintz a dirty slash on the top of his foot — in the exact same place Darnell Nurse injured him and cost him a game and a half — in Game 4?
—Mark Lazerus, New York Times, 30 May 2025
Kirk Siegler, NPR, 24 Apr. 2025
During my trip, Moore’s corps of consultants and roughnecks were drilling the fifth borehole of their experimental project.
—Brent Crane, The New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for roughneck
Adjective
Solomon’s estranged roughneck father (Chris Bauer) hawks macho health supplements and scams Solomon into becoming one of his salesmen.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 10 June 2025
Where was Benn, their leader and roughneck captain, when Evan Bouchard gave Hintz a dirty slash on the top of his foot — in the exact same place Darnell Nurse injured him and cost him a game and a half — in Game 4?
—Mark Lazerus, New York Times, 30 May 2025
Noun
But watching a group of roughnecks on a rig in grubby overalls moving huge, long steel pipes, Dugan's smile begins to fade to a smirk.
—Kirk Siegler, NPR, 24 Apr. 2025
During my trip, Moore’s corps of consultants and roughnecks were drilling the fifth borehole of their experimental project.
—Brent Crane, The New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for roughneck
Recent Examples of Synonyms for roughneck
Adjective
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The book is filled with vulgar pictures, with many faces blacked out, and messages both handwritten and typed from well-wishers for Epstein’s 50th birthday.—
Joey Garrison,
USA Today,
9 Sep. 2025
-
The biopic is the vulgar but necessary tribute inherently populist cinema pays to more traditional, higher-brow art.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Sep. 2025
Noun
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We’re then introduced to Louie, a thug who works for a loan shark, threatening and killing people.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
3 Sep. 2025
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Their neighbor, an older Jewish woman, gets arrested and Nazi thugs brazenly loot her apartment.—
Rabih Alameddine
September 2,
Literary Hub,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
In most places, private companies can fire employees for any reason — and that includes crass social media posts, said Jeffrey Hirsch, a professor of labor and employment law at the University of North Carolina.—
CNN.com Wire Service,
Mercury News,
13 Sep. 2025
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Edwards, along with protesting comrade Tom Hopper (Raife Hastings) and crass CIA contractor Jules Landry (Luke Hemsworth) join a secret CIA unit fighting terrorism in Europe.—
Bryan Alexander,
USA Today,
28 Aug. 2025
Noun
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There’s also a tropical storm circulating, as if the gangsters flew in from the tropics.—
John Metcalfe,
Mercury News,
12 Sep. 2025
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Others are new, building on a genuinely fresh and funny revelation that explains not only a cold open involving yakuza gangsters half a world away in Osaka, but also why this quaint town is sitting on a stash of weaponry big enough to overthrow the governments of several small nations.—
Katie Rife,
IndieWire,
9 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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These particular coffee-shop customers picked the wrong day to be rude, though.—
Jack Beresford,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Sep. 2025
-
Meanwhile, the Lions give a rude welcome back to Ben Johnson, while the 49ers run over the Saints.—
Vic Tafur,
New York Times,
11 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican running in the 2026 race for governor, said the ban showed Newsom and Democratic lawmakers care more about the safety of criminals than officers.—
Gerardo Zavala,
NPR,
20 Sep. 2025
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Now, Morgan faces her own enemies, including one criminal who starts to target her three children, crossing even her unconventional boundaries.—
Rebecca Aizin,
PEOPLE,
19 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The two firms are also considering building an oil pipeline and storage facility in Oman to help boost Iraq’s crude exports.—
Matthew Martin,
semafor.com,
15 Sep. 2025
-
That prompted a frustrated Webex engineer, Eric Yuan, to quit and start Zoom, which is why WebEx looks like a crude prototype of what Zoom became.—
Dev Patnaik,
Forbes.com,
15 Sep. 2025
Noun
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There’d be scenes of Kerr making unlikely comebacks, of his coach delivering big speeches, of an obvious villain becoming his rival.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
20 Sep. 2025
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Star model Elton Ilirjani closed the show in a stunning black and crystal-covered suit with a long, dramatic cape, calling to mind a Dracula-esque villain look.—
Nadja Sayej,
Forbes.com,
19 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Roughneck.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/roughneck. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.
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