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Rough vs Mellow - What's the difference?

rough | mellow |

As adjectives the difference between rough and mellow

is that rough is having a texture that has much friction not smooth; uneven while mellow is soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.

As nouns the difference between rough and mellow

is that rough is the unmowed part of a golf course while mellow is a relaxed mood.

As verbs the difference between rough and mellow

is that rough is to create in an approximate form while mellow is to make mellow; to relax or soften.

As a adverb rough

is in a rough manner; rudely; roughly.

rough

English

Alternative forms

* (colloquial) ruff

Adjective

(er)
  • Having a texture that has much friction. Not smooth; uneven.
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 1
  • The rock was one of those tremendously solid brown, or rather black, rocks which emerge from the sand like something primitive. Rough with crinkled limpet shells and sparsely strewn with locks of dry seaweed, a small boy has to stretch his legs far apart, and indeed to feel rather heroic, before he gets to the top.
  • Approximate; hasty or careless; not finished.
  • a rough''' estimate; a '''rough sketch of a building
  • Turbulent.
  • The sea was rough .
  • Difficult; trying.
  • Being a teenager nowadays can be rough .
  • Crude; unrefined
  • His manners are a bit rough , but he means well.
  • Violent; not careful or subtle
  • This box has been through some rough handling.
  • Loud and hoarse; offensive to the ear; harsh; grating.
  • a rough''' tone; a '''rough voice
    (Alexander Pope)
  • Not polished; uncut; said of a gem.
  • a rough diamond
  • Harsh-tasting.
  • rough wine

    Antonyms

    * smooth

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The unmowed part of a golf course.
  • A rude fellow; a coarse bully; a rowdy.
  • (cricket) A scuffed and roughened area of the pitch, where the bowler's feet fall, used as a target by spin bowlers because of its unpredictable bounce.
  • The raw material from which faceted or cabochon gems are created.
  • A quick sketch, similar to a thumbnail, but larger and more detailed. Meant for artistic brainstorming and a vital step in the design process.
  • (obsolete) Boisterous weather.
  • (Fletcher)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To create in an approximate form.
  • Rough in the shape first, then polish the details.
  • To physically assault someone in retribution.
  • The gangsters roughed him up a little.
  • (ice hockey) To commit the offense of roughing, i.e. to punch another player.
  • To render rough; to roughen.
  • To break in (a horse, etc.), especially for military purposes.
  • (Crabb)

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • In a rough manner; rudely; roughly.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • Sleeping rough on the trenches, and dying stubbornly in their boats.

    Derived terms

    * bit of rough * diamond in the rough * rough and ready * roughhouse * rough in * roughness * rough out * rough up

    mellow

    English

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.
  • a mellow apple
  • Easily worked or penetrated; not hard or rigid.
  • a mellow soil
  • * Drayton
  • flowers of rank and mellow glebe
  • Not coarse, rough, or harsh; subdued, soft, rich, delicate; said of sound, color, flavor, style, etc.
  • * Wordsworth
  • the mellow horn
  • * Thomson
  • the mellow -tasted Burgundy
  • * Percival
  • The tender flush whose mellow stain imbues / Heaven with all freaks of light.
  • Well matured; softened by years; genial; jovial.
  • * Wordsworth
  • May health return to mellow age.
  • * Washington Irving
  • as merry and mellow an old bachelor as ever followed a hound
  • Relaxed; calm; easygoing; laid-back.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=3 citation , passage=Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light.}}
  • Warmed by liquor, slightly intoxicated; or, stoned, high.
  • (Addison)

    Derived terms

    * mellowness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A relaxed mood.
  • *
  • *
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make mellow; to relax or soften.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • * J. C. Shairp
  • The fervour of early feeling is tempered and mellowed by the ripeness of age.
  • To become .
  • Derived terms

    * harshing my mellow (harsh one's mellow) * mellow out