gruff
/ɡrʌf
/adjective
1(Of a voice) rough and low in pitch: she spoke with a gruff, masculine voice...
- He suddenly felt a rough rope around his neck and a gruff voice said to him, ‘Let go of the globe.’
- Dave has a big, deep, booming gruff voice - that sounds like he gargles with gravel every single morning.
- He'd been traveling all day and was looking for a good place to make camp when he heard the gruff voices laughing and talking loudly.
Synonyms
rough, hoarse, harsh, guttural, throaty, husky, croaking, rasping, raspy, gravelly, growly, growling;
low, thick
1.1Abrupt or taciturn in manner: Robert’s gruff, no-nonsense approach...
- I responded nay, three times nay, though my manner had become rather gruff, and I was curt with them.
- It is his kind, if rather terse and gruff manner that has turned his shop into an excellent meeting place for people and ideas.
- His gruff manner always belied a kindness in him that all his close friends knew he had.
Synonyms
abrupt, brusque, curt, short, blunt, bluff, no-nonsense;
laconic, taciturn;
surly, churlish, grumpy, crotchety, crabby, crabbed, cross, bad-tempered, short-tempered, ill-natured, crusty, tetchy, bearish, sullen, sour, uncivil, rude, unmannerly, impolite, discourteous, ungracious, unceremonious, offhand
informal grouchy, off, offish
Derivatives
gruffly
/ adverb ...- Your new friend is just going to walk up to you, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fill out, and move right on in.
- When I called back next day to cancel my idea of a meeting, he said gruffly: ‘Come to lunch Sunday, if you can’.
- Then, an off-the-cuff remark by a bookshop owner who gruffly suggested she should write something of her own changed the course of her life.
gruffness
/ noun ...- The manager - only the fifth they have had in the last 31 years - politely accepts calls at the arranged time, and has none of the disciplinarian gruffness, egotism, or eccentricity which usually characterises successful bosses.
- Ripely fruitful, earthy nose with a hint of mineral salts leads to a delightful taste tug of war between sweet fruit and warm, earthy gruffness that keeps your interest and makes this the perfect wine for dinner.
- They protect themselves with gruffness or acerbic wit.
Origin
Late 15th century (in the sense 'coarse-grained'): from Flemish and Dutch grof 'coarse, rude', of West Germanic origin.