as in stevedore
one who loads and unloads ships at a port
sought work as a roustabout on the city's seedy waterfront
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of roustabout
His young mother, Beatrice, had married an engineer and roustabout named Horace Seidner who turned out not to be the family type.
—
Penelope Green, New York Times, 13 Oct. 2022
Cox would work his way up from a roustabout and roughneck to eventually leading an oil and gas company as well as other notable businesses.
—Dallas News, 7 Nov. 2020
The shale patch was the Wild West reborn, featuring poker games with $1000 buy-ins, boisterous strip clubs packed with roustabouts and brawling in the muddy streets illuminated by columns of flaring gas.
—Shawn Tully, Fortune, 30 Apr. 2020
The Showmen's League Of America commemorates the 1918 Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train disaster which killed 86 circus performers and roustabouts and injured 127, at Showman's Rest in Wood Lawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Ill., on Thursday, May 5, 2018.
—Dawn Mitchell, Indianapolis Star, 20 Feb. 2020
See All Example Sentences for roustabout
Penelope Green, New York Times, 13 Oct. 2022
Cox would work his way up from a roustabout and roughneck to eventually leading an oil and gas company as well as other notable businesses.
—Dallas News, 7 Nov. 2020
The shale patch was the Wild West reborn, featuring poker games with $1000 buy-ins, boisterous strip clubs packed with roustabouts and brawling in the muddy streets illuminated by columns of flaring gas.
—Shawn Tully, Fortune, 30 Apr. 2020
The Showmen's League Of America commemorates the 1918 Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train disaster which killed 86 circus performers and roustabouts and injured 127, at Showman's Rest in Wood Lawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Ill., on Thursday, May 5, 2018.
—Dawn Mitchell, Indianapolis Star, 20 Feb. 2020
See All Example Sentences for roustabout
Recent Examples of Synonyms for roustabout
Noun
-
Docks depended on a circulating pool of male maritime workers—crews of seamen and stokers who manned the tramp steamers, gangs of longshoremen, and stevedores who loaded and unloaded goods, as well as artisans and machinists who maintained and repaired the ships and trains.—
Michael Denning,
Foreign Affairs,
21 Aug. 2015
-
America dodged a sledgehammer on Thursday night, when striking stevedores reached a tentative agreement to return to work.—
Dan Primack,
Axios,
4 Oct. 2024
Noun
-
Dockworkers reach tentative agreement, suspending port strike 01:20 A 2019-2020 report by the Waterfront Commission, which oversees New York Harbor, found that a third of the longshoremen based there made $200,000 or more annually including overtime pay.—
Kate Gibson,
CBS News,
8 Jan. 2025
-
More than a decade before the Dali container ship toppled Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, a Seattle longshoreman named Roger Murray climbed aboard another vessel managed by the same Singaporean company.—
USA TODAY,
USA TODAY,
25 Sep. 2024
Noun
-
Recent months have seen labor unions win significant concessions from employers, following high-profile strikes by Boeing factory workers, dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports, video game performers, and hotel and casino employees on the Las Vegas Strip.—
Paul Du Quenoy,
Newsweek,
10 Jan. 2025
-
Labor unions have secured meaningful employer concessions in recent months following strikes by Boeing factory workers, dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports, video game performers, and hotel and casino workers on the Las Vegas Strip.—
Mead Gruver,
The Denver Post,
9 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Roustabout.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/roustabout. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share