gruff

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“
Pacino nails it as a gruff, aging coach having difficulty finding his place in the new, media-savvy era of professional football

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Brusque or stern in manner or appearance: a gruff reply.
  2. adjective Hoarse; harsh: a gruff voice.
  3. Syntax Note
    Synonyms: gruff, brusque, blunt, bluff2, curt, crusty
    These adjectives mean abrupt and sometimes discourteous in manner or speech. Gruff implies roughness or surliness but does not necessarily suggest rudeness: a gruff reply.
    Brusque emphasizes rude abruptness: a brusque manner.
    Blunt stresses utter frankness and usually a disconcerting directness: a blunt refusal.
    Bluff refers to unpolished, unceremonious manner but usually implies hearty good nature: a bluff and courageous sailor.
    Curt denotes usually rude briefness and abruptness of speech: a curt letter of rejection.
    Crusty suggests a rough and forbidding manner that sometimes conceals benevolence of spirit: a crusty old gentlemen who feeds stray cats.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (50)

  • “Suit yourself.” He was tough, gruff, and often surly, but now she knew what lay beneath that defense. —  FIRESTORM
  • Ashamed, trying to look like a gruff-voiced lumberjack, I helped with the boards on his Wall of Death. —  The Tartan Sell - Jonathan Gash - Lovejoy 10
  • His voice was gruff, his eyes full of golden chips. —  Garwood, Julie - Gentle Warrior
  • The late Dick Bowie was described as an "often-gruff, always-colorful officiating guru" in his obituary in the Norfolk newspaper The Virginian-Pilot, and he became a crucial factor in Anderson's growth as an official.
  • John Scurti is invaluable as the gruff, struggling Lt. Lou O'Shea;
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This word has been looked up 135 times.

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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

brusque ·  curt ·  husky ·  guttural ·  throaty ·  surly ·  harsh ·  raucous ·  sarcastic ·  sullen ·  hearty ·  uncouth
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Dutch grof, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Dutch grof, coarse, plump, loud, blunt, great, heavy, = Low German grov = Old High German grob, gerob, Middle High German grop, gerop, German grob, great, large, coarse, thick, rude, etc., = Swedish grof = Danish grov, big, coarse, rude. Root unknown; the Old High German gerob does not necessarily contain the prefix ge-, being prob. developed from grob.
  2. A variant of grove, groove, in the same sense.
 

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/grəf/
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