discourteous or impolite, especially in a deliberate way.
a rude reply.
without culture, learning, or refinement.
rude, illiterate peasants.
rough in manners or behavior; unmannerly; uncouth.
rough, harsh, or ungentle.
rude hands.
roughly wrought, built, or formed; of a crude construction or kind.
a rude cottage.
not properly or fully developed; raw; unevolved.
a rude first stage of development.
harsh to the ear.
rude sounds.
without artistic elegance; of a primitive simplicity.
a rude design.
violent or tempestuous, as the waves.
robust, sturdy, or vigorous.
rude strength.
approximate or tentative.
a rude first calculation of costs.
insulting or uncivil; discourteous; impolite
he was rude about her hairstyle
lacking refinement; coarse or uncouth
vulgar or obscene
a rude joke
unexpected and unpleasant
a rude awakening to the facts of economic life
roughly or crudely made
we made a rude shelter on the island
rough or harsh in sound, appearance, or behaviour
humble or lowly
(prenominal) robust or sturdy
in rude health
(prenominal) approximate or imprecise
a rude estimate
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English rude, ruide, from Old French, from Latin rudis
Rude describes a type of behavior that isn't appropriate and usually isn't very nice, either — like yelling "You stink!" at a children's talent show. Rude refers to bad behavior or just plain bad manners. For example, children are taught to say "please" and "thank you" or they are considered rude. A rude person needs a little work — rude also means crude or basic, like a rude cabin out in the woods that barely keeps the rain out. It can be a sudden realization, too. If you wake up and see your breath, it's a rude awakening that the heat's not working.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Workers say they encounter rude or mentally unstable people and an unfortunate amount of human waste and vomit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
“RSVP as early as possible, be honest without being rude, and be clear that you won’t be attending rather than acting noncommittal and ultimately sending a last-minute ‘no’ anyway.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
"He was very rude, he disrespected me and mistreated me on the phone," Michelle Bolsonaro, 44, told her 8.2 million Instagram followers about her stepson Flavio Bolsonaro, 45.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
The logo-shooting, circus-passing, shape-shifting revelation who was once arguably the most famous basketball player in the world has become rude, entitled and, frankly, not all that fun.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026
However, his wife, the Baroness Hoover, was monstrous, rude, and condescending, and like the Earl of Maytag, she scarcely considered the Incorrigibles to be human.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
Following her was fellow queen Kochina Rude who came out dressed as Pee-wee Herman to perform the Germs’ “Lexicon Devil” before stage-diving into the crowd.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Emelyn Rude, author of Tastes Like Chicken: A History of America’s Favorite Bird, says “the shock comes from this dissonance: we don’t think of it as a luxury food.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
“This suggests that mature consumers are not only growing in number but also increasing their spending at a significant pace,” said Jana Rude, Euromonitor’s senior global insight manager for consumers.
From Barron's ● Nov. 28, 2025
Rude gestures are rare on postage stamps, but Ukraine's best known stamp has one.
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2024
And what was she turning into, thinking that the Rude boys were endearing?
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
The actual phrasing he used was far ruder than that – but you get the drift.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Sherril Graham said she thought the national norms were making people ruder and more radicalized.
From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2025
Two in 10 said today’s behavior is a lot ruder.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2025
It’s hard to see what’s ruder than the way we’re trashing it with our vainglorious Seattle neglect.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 30, 2023
I say, deciding the best way to avoid answering her question is to ask a ruder one of my own.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
It’s that they’ve done it by transforming into the rudest, most hard-hitting, trash-talking team in professional basketball.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
It was a rude speech, maybe the rudest by a national leader in Davos history.
From Slate ● Jan. 21, 2026
If there was hope, and belief, that this type of performance was maybe behind them, then this was the rudest of rude awakenings.
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2025
The rudest, most disrespectful tweets garner eight times as many likes and ten times as many retweets as civil ones.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2022
That wasn’t the rudest thing Mom did—because then she asked June THE QUESTION.
From "P.S. I Miss You" by Jen Petro-Roy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
