ROUGHLY Synonyms: 91 Similar and Opposite Words

roughly

adverb

ˈrə-flē

Definition of roughly

as in approximately

close to but not exactly roughly 80% of the country's population is of that faith

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in severely

in a manner so as to cause loss or suffering if you treat the machine roughly, it will of course break

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 roughly But the roughly 1 in 10 voters who somewhat disapprove of Trump support the Republican candidate over the Democratic one by a double-digit margin, 58% to 34%. — ABC News, 18 Oct. 2026 The earthquake's epicenter was roughly 6 miles southwest of Tres Pinos and occurred at a depth of 1 mile. — Ca Earthquake Bot, Sacbee.com, 18 Oct. 2026 Already, over Catholicism’s roughly 2,000-year history, women have become saints who founded missions and religious orders. — Jonathan Bullington, Chicago Tribune, 18 Oct. 2026 Kid Rock, who has been friends with Eminem for roughly four decades, spoke about the collaboration in an interview with Billboard. — Jessica Lynch, Billboard, 18 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for roughly

Recent Examples of Synonyms for roughly

Adverb

The manufacturer lists approximately 2,485 miles with a 40,000-pound payload.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 17 Oct. 2026
The ticket purchase limit for that concert was between four and eight, prosecutors said, and REPS allegedly made approximately $833,323 in profit by reselling those tickets.

— Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of approximately

Adverb

Many of the children's bodies were severely decomposed, with only 26 able to be identified, and investigations into the other deaths are ongoing.

— Jefferson Kahinju Reuters, Arkansas Online, 20 Oct. 2026
At least one case of congenital measles led to a death; the first death reported in the current outbreak was in a newborn baby boy, who died immediately after birth while his mother was severely ill with measles.

— Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of severely

Adverb

In Lyon, France's third-largest city where about 20,000 protesters joined the march, a fire broke out inside a tourist office.

— SYLVIE CORBET, Arkansas Online, 18 Oct. 2026
The incident occurred along the 3700 block of Gardenia Avenue, where police received a call about two shots being fired in a nearby residence, Long Beach Police said in a statement.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 18 Oct. 2026

Definition of about

Adverb

Hair in Sports Women are often judged more harshly than male counterparts in many aspects of life, but this is especially true in sports.

— Audrey Noble, Vogue, 15 Oct. 2026
But their complaints come as Lecornu's government seeks to rein in public spending to appease skittish bond markets, which have punished France more harshly than many of its peers this year, amid a global bond market rout.

— Jenni Reid, CNBC, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of harshly

Adverb

Water waves caused by, say, 50 stones thrown into a pond have a wavelength of a few centimeters and oscillate with a frequency of around 10 hertz (Hz).

— Philipp Strasberg, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Previous estimates of her net worth have ranged around $72 million.

— Mathew Miranda, Sacbee.com, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of around

Adverb

The summer had seen Europe endure an oppressively dry, hot summer, which had seen wildfires spring up across the continent.

— Anthony Wood, Space.com, 26 Aug. 2026
After a bit of a reprieve from an oppressively hot summer, another heat wave is set to scorch Southern California this week.

— Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of oppressively

Adverb

And even DeVonta Smith, who made his return from injury Sunday, landed hard in the fourth quarter and appeared to be shaken up.

— Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 18 Oct. 2026
The Capricorn Moon squares the Sun in your sign, making private responsibilities or family dynamics harder to tune out.

— Tarot.com, The Orlando Sentinel, 18 Oct. 2026

Definition of hard

Adverb

Witch fever, by this point in history, had become a mechanism for brutally regulating and disciplining female behavior, and doing so intergenerationally.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Oct. 2026
The flags couldn’t be redder, and Khoshnoudi nimbly sketches out the circuitous emotional paths S takes to avoid seeing them until such evasion suddenly and brutally becomes impossible.

— Sara Holdren, Vulture, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of brutally

Browse Nearby Words

rough it

roughly

roughneck

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Roughly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/roughly. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of roughly

adverb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

compunction

Popular in Grammar & Usage

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

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

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Popular in Wordplay

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Popular

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

Games & Quizzes