Skip to content

roughness

noun

  1. surface texture
  2. sound quality
L326938 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈɹʌf.nəs/ / /ˈɹʌf.nʌs/ / /ˈɹɐf.nəs/

noun

Etymology: Inherited from Middle English roughnes /roughnesse. By surface analysis, rough + -ness. Compare Old English hrēohnes (“roughness”).

  1. The property of being rough, coarseness.

    The roughness of the road made me wonder if my car would fall apart.

  2. Something that is rough; a rough spot.

    A variety of suitable methods for surface inspection are available to detect topographical defects induced by surface roughnesses such as scratches, digs, inclusions and spatters.

  3. Roughage; coarse fodder.

    With this latter implement, the corn stalk fodder, shucks, oats, hay and other "roughness" may be finely cut up[…]

  4. Abundance, especially of food.
  5. A measure of how rough something is, such as a surface

    The surface roughness was low.