raw
adjective /rɔː/
/rɔː/
Idioms - raw meat
- raw eggs/vegetables
- These fish are often eaten raw.
- The tigers were fed raw chicken bones.
- raw sewage
- raw sugar/milk/cotton
- Iron ore is the main raw ingredient in steel.
- [usually before noun] not yet organized into a form in which it can be easily used or understood
- This information is only raw data and will need further analysis.
- [usually before noun] powerful and natural; not trained or showing control
- songs full of raw emotion
- the raw power of imagination
- He started with nothing but raw talent and determination.
- red and painful because the skin has been damaged
- There were raw patches on her feet where the shoes had rubbed.
- His throat was raw and painful.
- The skin on her feet had been rubbed raw.
Synonyms painfulpainful- sore
- raw
- inflamed
- excruciating
- burning
- itchy
- painful causing you physical pain. Painful can describe a part of the body, illness, injury, treatment or death: Is your knee still painful? • a series of painful injections • a slow and painful death
- sore (of a part of the body) painful and often red, especially because of infection or because a muscle has been used too much:
- a sore throat
- Their feet were sore after hours of walking.
- raw (of a part of the body) red and painful, for example because of an infection or because the skin has been damaged:
- The skin on her feet had been rubbed raw.
- inflamed (of a part of the body) painful, red and hot because of an infection or injury:
- The wound had become inflamed.
- excruciating extremely painful. Excruciating can describe feelings, treatments or death but not parts of the body: an excruciating throat/back/knee.
- burning painful and giving a feeling of being very hot:
- She felt a burning sensation in her throat.
- itchy giving an uncomfortable feeling on your skin that makes you want to scratch; having this feeling:
- an itchy rash
- I feel itchy all over.
- sore/inflamed/itchy eyes
- raw/inflamed/itchy skin
- a painful/an excruciating death
- a painful/burning sensation
- excruciating/burning pain
- [usually before noun] new to a job or an activity and therefore without experience or skill
- a raw beginner
- raw recruits (= for example, in the army)
- very cold
- a raw north wind
- It had been a wet, raw winter.
- honest, direct and sometimes shocking
- a raw portrayal of working-class life
- (North American English) raw language (= containing many sexual details)
food
materials
information
emotions/qualities
part of body
person
weather
description
Word OriginOld English hrēaw, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch rauw and German roh, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek kreas ‘raw flesh’.
Idioms
a raw deal
- the fact of somebody being treated unfairly
- Older workers often get a raw deal.