Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having a rough irregular surface.
  • adjective Having strong features marked with furrows or wrinkles.
  • adjective Having a sturdy build or strong constitution.
  • adjective Tempestuous; stormy.
  • adjective Demanding great effort, ability, or endurance.
  • adjective Lacking culture or polish; coarse and rude.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having a rough, hairy surface or nap; shaggy; bristly; ragged.
  • Covered with rough projections; broken into sharp or irregular points or prominences; rough; uneven: as, a rugged mountain; rugged rocks.
  • Wrinkled; furrowed; corrugated; hence, ruffled; disturbed; uneasy.
  • Rough to the ear; harsh; grating.
  • Unsoftened by refinement or cultivation; rude; homely; unpolished; ignorant.
  • Rough in temper; harsh; hard; austere.
  • Marked by harshness, severity, or anger; fierce; rough; ungentle.
  • Rough; tempestuous: said of the sea or weather.
  • Vigorous; robust; strong in health.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Full of asperities on the surface; broken into sharp or irregular points, or otherwise uneven; not smooth; rough.
  • adjective Not neat or regular; uneven.
  • adjective Rough with bristles or hair; shaggy.
  • adjective Harsh; hard; crabbed; austere; -- said of temper, character, and the like, or of persons.
  • adjective Stormy; turbulent; tempestuous; rude.
  • adjective Rough to the ear; harsh; grating; -- said of sound, style, and the like.
  • adjective Sour; surly; frowning; wrinkled; -- said of looks, etc.
  • adjective Violent; rude; boisterrous; -- said of conduct, manners, etc.
  • adjective Colloq. U.S. Vigorous; robust; hardy; -- said of health, physique, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Broken into sharp or irregular points; uneven; not smooth; rough
  • adjective Not neat or regular; irregular, uneven.
  • adjective Rough with bristles or hair; shaggy.
  • adjective of a person strong, sturdy, well-built
  • adjective of land rocky and bare of plantlife
  • adjective Harsh; austere; hard; crabbed; -- said of temper, character, and the like, or of persons.
  • adjective Stormy; turbulent; tempestuous; rude.
  • adjective Harsh; grating; rough to the ear -- said of sound, style, and the like.
  • adjective Sour; surly; frowning; wrinkled; -- said of looks, etc.
  • adjective Violent; rude; boisterous; -- said of conduct, manners, etc.
  • adjective Vigorous; robust; hardy; -- said of health, physique, etc.
  • adjective computing, of a computer designed to reliably operate in harsh usage environments and conditions
  • adjective Having a rug or rugs.
  • adjective Covered with a rug.
  • verb Simple past tense and past participle of rug.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution
  • adjective sturdy and strong in constitution or construction; enduring
  • adjective having long narrow shallow depressions (as grooves or wrinkles) in the surface
  • adjective topographically very uneven

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, shaggy, of Scandinavian origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

rug + -ed

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English rugged, roggyd, ruggyd, from Swedish rugg ("shaggy hair") (see rug) + -ed.

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