rude
adjective
discourteous or impolite, especially in a deliberate way.
rude
1 American
[rood]
/ rud /
adjective
-
ruder,
comparative
-
rudest
superlative
-
discourteous or impolite, especially in a deliberate way.
a rude reply.
- Synonyms:
- fresh, pert, saucy, impudent, impertinent, brusque, curt, unmannerly, uncivil
-
without culture, learning, or refinement.
rude, illiterate peasants.
- Synonyms:
- rough, vulgar, coarse, uncouth, uncivilized, uncultured, unrefined
-
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.
- Synonyms:
- stormy, turbulent, tumultuous, fierce
-
robust, sturdy, or vigorous.
rude strength.
-
approximate or tentative.
a rude first calculation of costs.
Rude
2
American
[r y d]
/ rüd /
noun
rude
British
/ ruːd /
adjective
-
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
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
overrudenessnoun
-
rudenessnoun
-
overrudeadjective
-
unrudeadjective
-
overrudelyadverb
-
rudelyadverb
-
unrudelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of rude
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English rude, ruide, from Old French, from Latin rudis
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing rude
Christmas Carol Vocab: A Lyrical Lexicon
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Words for Carolers
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Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But the Chargers’ new offensive coordinator knows his unit must show urgency and improvement Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders after a rude wake-up call in the season opener.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
If you can’t understand the rewards for socially acceptable behavior, you’re bound to be seen as rude, callous, even apathetic—like someone with FTD.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Vallely said he could understand the reasoning behind banning wearing Meta glasses "if people are being crude and rude", but he said the intention behind filming was key.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
“When the loved one dies and the house goes into probate, then they get a rude awakening.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
“Sorry about that. I couldn’t hold on to it while falling to my death. How completely rude of me. May I have it back?”
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
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
“Small horned toad. Rude as it is spiky. It’s stealing my seeds for my science experiment. I figured you’re a Holy Being, it’s a Holy Being. Maybe you know each other?”
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
Sherril Graham said she thought the national norms were making people ruder and more radicalized.
From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2025
The Pew survey found that just under half of U.S. adults polled — 47% — said the way people behave in public these days is ruder than before the pandemic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2025
Giving evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday, Mr Cummings accepted his language was "deplorable" but denied he had been misogynistic, adding: "I was much ruder about men."
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2023
Nothing is ruder than a guest who is constantly checking emails or making private phone calls.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2023
The Army offered us rations, which gettings Sip and I could not refuse; and so we repaired to the city gates, where our fiddlers’ fingers took to ruder labor.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
