Link Centre Dictionary

rugged

rug·ged

UK/ɹʌɡd/ US/ˈrʌɡʌd/ fairly common

adjective

1.

sturdy and strong in constitution or construction; enduring

  • “a rugged trapper who spent months in the winderness”
  • “those that survive are stalwart rugged men”
  • “with a house full of boys you have to have rugged furniture”
Antonyms
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2.

topographically very uneven

  • “broken terrain”
  • “rugged ground”
Synonyms
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3.

rocky and steep

Synonyms
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4.

very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution

  • “a rugged competitive examination”
  • “the rugged conditions of frontier life”
  • “the competition was tough”
  • “it”
  • “;”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

From Middle English rugged, roggyd, ruggyd, derived from Old Norse rǫgg (“tuft, shagginess”), equivalent to rug (“rough, woollen material”) + -ed. Compare Old Swedish ruggoter (“wrinkled”), Swedish rugga (“to roughen”), Swedish ruggig (“shaggy”), Icelandic rögg (“shagginess”), Old Norse raggaðr (“tufted”), dialectal Danish raggad (“shaggy”).

Phrases

  • rugged individualism

Related words

Word family

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.