rogue
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a person who is dishonest or does things that are not principled.
n.a person who lacks principles or acts in a deceitful and unreliable manner.
Simple“The rogue cheated the elderly couple out of their life savings.”
In context“The investigation revealed that a rogue within the department had been leaking sensitive information to the press for months.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a person, often a child, who is mischievous but in a way that is likeable.
n.a person, typically a child or young person, who behaves in a playfully mischievous way.
Simple“That little rogue stole a cookie when I wasn't looking.”
In context“He gave her a wink, looking like a charming rogue who was about to break all the rules.”
Synonyms - 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a character in a game or story who is good at hiding and stealing.
n.a character class in role-playing games typically characterised by stealth, agility, and trickery.
Simple“I usually play as a rogue because I like to sneak past enemies.”
In context“The party's rogue successfully picked the lock while the guards were distracted by the wizard's illusion.”
- 04 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.behaving in an unexpected or harmful way, often by breaking the rules.
adj.operating outside of normal or desirable controls; unpredictable and often destructive.
Simple“A rogue wave crashed over the side of the ship without warning.”
In context“The government is concerned about rogue states that refuse to follow international nuclear treaties.”
Synonyms - 05 C2 Proficiency
v.to remove plants that are weak or not the right type from a group.
v.to remove inferior or atypical plants from a crop to maintain the quality of the stock.
Simple“The farmers had to rogue the field to ensure the seeds stayed pure.”
In context“To maintain the genetic integrity of the strain, technicians must rogue any individuals showing undesirable variations before pollination occurs.”
UsageThe verb is transitive and requires a direct object, usually the field or the plants themselves.
Synonymscullweed
“Claude-maker Anthropic, Meta and the UK's AI Security Institute (AISI) have now each reported incidents which seem to paint a worrying picture of a world in which tech going rogue is the norm.”
“The promise is that rogue barber shops, vape stores, mini-marts and sweet shops will face thousands of raids.”
Uncertain. From either: * Earlier English roger (“a begging vagabond who pretends to be a poor scholar from Oxford or Cambridge”), possibly from Latin rogō (“I ask”). * Middle French rogue (“arrogant, haughty”), from Old Northern French rogre (“aggressive”), from Old Norse hrokr (“excess, exuberance”), for which see Icelandic hroki (“arrogance”), though OED does not document this. * Celtic; see Breton rog (“haughty”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.