roughneck

1 of 2

noun

rough·​neck ˈrəf-ˌnek How to pronounce roughneck (audio)
1
a
: a rough or uncouth person
b
2
: a worker of an oil-well-drilling crew other than the driller

roughneck

2 of 2

adjective

: having the characteristics of or suitable for a roughneck

Examples of roughneck in a Sentence

Noun a town overrun by roughnecks a group of roughnecks like to hang out at the roadhouse and harass people Adjective their roughneck antics were amusing only if you were as drunk as they were
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Elena, easily influenced, takes a shine to the handsome roughneck. Esther Zuckerman, Washington Post, 29 Feb. 2024 And along those highways came the farmers and Okies and oil rig roughnecks who would forever shape the culture and landscape of the San Joaquin Valley. Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times, 2 Feb. 2024 Long road to stardom Keith worked as a roughneck in the oil fields of Oklahoma as a young man, then played semi-pro football before launching his career as a singer. CBS News, 6 Feb. 2024 Keith worked as a roughneck in the oil fields of Oklahoma as a young man, then played semi-pro football before launching his career as a singer. Kristin M. Hall, Fortune, 6 Feb. 2024 The youth culture in evidence in his early novels is distinctly Texan and rural (and white): Cadillacs and roughnecks, Hank Williams songs on the jukebox at the pool hall, aimless drives down empty streets. Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2023 Hanna’s immediate suspicions may resonate with one viewer, while another, like Liv, might want to give the roughnecks the benefit of the doubt. Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 2 Oct. 2023 Over the past five years, Texas has added 2,800 jobs to support wind and solar power generation at the same time that the state has lost 44,000 oil and gas extraction jobs, in part because automation has allowed producers to drill more wells while employing fewer roughnecks. Heather Souvaine Horn, The New Republic, 12 May 2023 Armageddon—the 1998 movie, not the mythical battlefield—told the story of an asteroid headed straight for Earth, and a bunch of swaggering roughnecks sent in space shuttles to blow it up with a nuclear weapon. IEEE Spectrum, 23 Sep. 2022
Adjective
Trey Smoak’s roughneck monitor lizard was out of his sight for about 10 minutes Friday when the Crowley resident went to put up groceries. Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11 Feb. 2024 In reporting trips over miles and miles of Texas, to borrow a phrase from a classic song, The Times found a broad range of Texans, settling in a few representative places — a North Texas suburb, the roughneck hub of Odessa and the heart of Houston — to tell the story of a state in rapid transition. Robert Gebeloff, New York Times, 13 Nov. 2023 Overwatch’s latest short focused on McCree, the game’s popular, roughneck cowboy character. Julia Alexander, The Verge, 2 Nov. 2018

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'roughneck.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1834, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Adjective

1906, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of roughneck was in 1834

Dictionary Entries Near roughneck

Cite this Entry

“Roughneck.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/roughneck. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

roughneck

noun
rough·​neck
ˈrəf-ˌnek
1
: a rough person : rowdy
2
: a worker on a crew drilling oil wells

More from Merriam-Webster on roughneck

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!