roughly

adverb

rough·​ly ˈrə-flē How to pronounce roughly (audio)
Synonyms of roughlynext
1
: in a rough manner: such as
a
: with harshness or violence
treated the prisoner roughly
b
: in crude fashion : imperfectly
roughly dressed lumber
2
: without completeness or exactness : approximately
roughly 20 percent

Synonyms of roughly

Relevance
See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus

Examples of roughly in a Sentence

Roughly translated, it means “hurry up!”. The new product is modeled roughly on an earlier design. He threw the package roughly in the truck. The guard told us roughly that we had to stand back.
Recent Examples on the Web
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.
Musk controls about 85% of SpaceX’s voting power, compared with roughly 20% at Tesla. — Morgan Chittum, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2026 An average of four recent polls puts the two camps at roughly 50 and 53 seats, respectively, leaving Arab parties and smaller factions potentially pivotal. — Eric Cortellessa, Time, 22 Oct. 2026 The earthquake's epicenter was roughly 19 miles north-northwest of Covelo and occurred at a depth of 5 miles. — Ca Earthquake Bot, Sacbee.com, 22 Oct. 2026 The stairs had been mismeasured, requiring scaffolding to be erected at the last minute to haul roughly 10-foot panes of glass through a window. — Sean Santiago, Architectural Digest, 21 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for roughly

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of roughly was in the 14th century

Rhymes for roughly

See All Rhymes for roughly

Browse Nearby Words

rough lumber
roughly
rough-machine
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Roughly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/roughly. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of milieu

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All