1. A texture of a surface or edge that is not smooth but is irregular and uneven
   "The roughness of the sandpaper made it effective for sanding wood";
   - raggedness
    
2. The quality of being harsh, rough or grating to the senses
   "The roughness of his voice betrayed his anger";
   - harshness
    
3. An unpolished unrefined quality
   "the roughness of frontier dwellings depressed her";
   - crudeness
    
4. Harsh or severe speech or behaviour
   "men associate the roughness of nonstandard working-class speech with masculinity"; "the roughness of her voice was a signal to keep quiet"
    
5. Rowdy behaviour
   "The roughness of the crowd forced the concert to end early";
   - rowdiness, rowdyism, disorderliness, raucousness, riotousness, rambunctiousness
    
6. Used of the sea during inclement or stormy weather
   "The roughness of the waves made sailing difficult";
   - choppiness, rough water
    
7. The formation of small pits in a surface as a consequence of corrosion
   "roughness on the metal surface indicated advanced corrosion";
   - pitting, indentation

Type of: corroding, corrosion, disorder, erosion, inelegance, intensification, storminess, texture, unpleasantness

Encyclopedia: Roughness