roughly
- 01 B1 Intermediate
about or nearly; you use this when you are giving a number or amount that is not exact.
approximately or nearly; used to indicate that a figure or estimate is imprecise but close to the actual value.
Simple“The journey to the airport takes roughly forty-five minutes depending on the traffic.”
In context“The project is expected to cost roughly three million dollars, though that figure may fluctuate as material costs change.”
Synonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
in a hard, violent, or unkind way.
in a manner lacking gentleness or care; characterized by physical force or harshness.
Simple“The guards handled the heavy boxes roughly, and one of them broke.”
In context“He was pushed roughly aside by the crowd as they rushed toward the platform to catch the last train.”
Synonyms - 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
done in a simple or quick way without focusing on small details.
in a basic or preliminary manner; without fine detail or precision.
Simple“She roughly sketched the map on a napkin to show us the way.”
In context“The initial prototype was roughly assembled from spare parts just to demonstrate that the mechanical concept was viable.”
Usage roughly million · roughly percent · roughly years
“Indiana was the hardest-hit state, with more than 267,000 outages, representing about 8% of its roughly 3.3 million customers.”
“Now, the Do Hiemon - which roughly translates to "The Cooling Box" - is being rolled out in public spaces and sold to businesses.”
From rough + -ly.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.