Word.ws English Dictionary

rock

UK/ɹɒk/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ɹɔk/

rock noun: the naturally occurring aggregate of solid mineral matter that constitutes a significant part of the earth's crust. Also the archaic form of roc.

rock: a formation of minerals, specifically:
Image: EvanS, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

rock (countable and uncountable, plural rocks)

  1. (uncountable) The naturally occurring aggregate of solid mineral matter that constitutes a significant part of the earth's crust.
    • The face of the cliff is solid rock.
    • Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.[…]Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, archived from the original on 01 Nov 2020, page 28
    Synonyms:
    stone
  2. A mass of stone projecting out of the ground or water.
    • The ship crashed on the rocks.
    • This enormous, 1.7 million acre property offers hikes to spectacular formations like Metate Arch in Devil’s Garden and the Wahweap Hoodoos, slender, ghostly rocks that can reach several stories high.2018 July 17, Autumn Spanne, “Check out these crazy rock formations across the United States”, in CNN
    Synonyms:
    cliff
  3. (Ireland, UK) A boulder or large stone; or (US, Canada) a smaller stone; a pebble.
    • Some fool has thrown a rock through my window.
    Synonyms:
    boulder, pebble, stone
  4. Any natural material with a distinctive composition of minerals.
  5. (colloquial) A precious stone or gem, especially a diamond.
    • Look at the size of that rock on her finger!
    • I call all the shots, rip all the spots / Rock all the rocks, cop all the drops1997, “Mo Money Mo Problems”, in Life After Death, performed by The Notorious B.I.G. ft. Ma$e and Diddy
    Synonyms:
    gem, diamond
  6. A large hill or island having no vegetation.
    • The captain named it Pearl Rock after the rising sun illuminated the surface of the island.
  7. (figuratively) Something that is strong, stable, and dependable; a person who provides security or support to another.
    • And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 16:18
    • Celeste Talbert: She is my rock, my right hand.1991, Robert Harling and Andrew Bergman, Soapdish, Paramount Pictures
    Synonyms:
    foundation, support
  8. A lump or cube of ice.
    • I'll have a whisky on the rocks, please.
    Synonyms:
    ice, ice cube
  9. (UK, uncountable) A type of confectionery made from sugar in the shape of a stick, traditionally having some text running through its length.
    • While we're in Brighton, let's get a stick of rock!
    • With my little stick of Blackpool rock/Along the promenade I stroll.1937 January 24, “With My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock”performed by George Formby
  10. (US, slang) A crystallized lump of crack cocaine.
    • I ain't guilty, ‘cause even though I sell rocks / It feels good puttin' money in your mailbox1995, “Dear Mama”, in Me Against the World, performed by 2Pac
    • When I necked five-quid bottles of vodka, I did not read the label. When I scored rocks and bags off tumbleweed hobos blowing through the no-man's-land of Hackney estates, I conducted no litmus test.2014, Russell Brand, “Prologue”, in Revolution, →ISBN, page xiii
    Synonyms:
    crack rock, candy, crack
  11. (US, slang) An unintelligent person, especially one who repeats mistakes.
  12. (South Africa, derogatory, slang) An Afrikaner.
Show 10 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (US, slang) An extremely conservative player who is willing to play only the very strongest hands.
  2. The striped bass.
  3. The huss or rock salmon.
    • We ordered rock and chips to take away.
  4. (US, slang) A basketball.
    • Yo homie, pass the rock!
    • It [the original Space Jam limped to 88 minutes with detours into Jordan’s swanky mansion and forced its cartoon cavalry to compete for screen time against Wayne Knight and a bunch of basketball players who delivered their lines much less confidently than they put the rock through the net.2021 July 14, A. A. Dowd, “Space Jam: A New Legacy is one big, witless commercial for Warner Bros. properties”, in The A.V. Club
  5. (US, slang) A mistake.
    • Now, you should never make the last out of an inning at third, and when a player does it, everyone knows he pulled a rock.2014, Joe Morgan, Richard Lally, Baseball For Dummies, page 227
  6. Synonym of stone.
    Synonyms:
    stone
  7. A closed hand (a handshape resembling a rock), that beats scissors and loses to paper. It beats lizard and loses to Spock in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.
  8. (informal) A cricket ball, especially a new one that has not been softened by use
  9. (CB radio slang) A crystal used to control the radio frequency.
    • It was easily possible to double the cost of a CB rig just by adding all of the "rocks" necessary to do the job.1980, Joseph J. Carr, The Complete Handbook of Radio Receivers, page 199
  10. A cheap golf ball.

Verb (1)

rock (third-person singular simple present rocks, present participle rocking, simple past and past participle rocked)

  1. (transitive) To pelt with rocks; to stone.
    • Do you chaps mean to say you didn't make Rabbits-Eggs drunk and bribe him to rock King's rooms?1908, Rudyard Kipling, Stalky & Co.

Verb (2)

rock (third-person singular simple present rocks, present participle rocking, simple past and past participle rocked)

  1. (intransitive, transitive) To move gently back and forth.
    • Rock the baby to sleep.
    • The empty swing rocked back and forth in the wind.
    1. (intransitive, transitive) To sway one's body as a stim.
      • Tends to tap fingers on desk or spin ring on finger, especially when stressed. Sucks thumb in private. Loves to rock.2019 May 4, C. L. Lynch, “"Autism is a Spectrum" Doesn’t Mean What You Think”, in NeuroClastic
  2. (transitive) To cause to shake or sway violently.
    • Don't rock the boat.
    • A rising earthquake rocked the ground.1700, [John] Dryden, “Theodore and Honoria, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    agitate, trouble
  3. (intransitive) To sway or tilt violently back and forth.
    • The boat rocked at anchor.
  4. (intransitive, transitive) To be washed and panned in a cradle or in a rocker.
    • The ores had been rocked and laid out for inspection.
  5. (transitive) To disturb the emotional equilibrium of; to distress; to greatly impact (most often positively).
    • Downing Street has been rocked by yet another sex scandal.
    • She rocked my world.
  6. (intransitive) To do well or to be operating at high efficiency.
    • The Blues' challenge had been rocking at that point, with Terry's centre-back partner Gary Cahill lost to injury and Barca having just levelled the tie through Busquets's neat, close-range finish from Isaac Cuenca's pull-back.2012 April 24, Phil Dawkes, “Barcelona 2-2 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport
    Synonyms:
    cook with gas, flourish
  7. (intransitive, slang) To be very favourable or skilful; excel; be fantastic.
    • Chocolate rocks.
    • My holidays in Ibiza rocked! I can't wait to go back.
    Antonyms:
    stink, suck
  8. (ambitransitive, euphemistic, slang) To make love to or have sex (with).
    • I wanna rock!
    • Cum on feel the noize, girls, rock your boys.1973, Noddy Holder, Jim Lea, “Cum On Feel the Noize”, performed by Slade
    Synonyms:
    go to bed with

Noun (2)

rock (plural rocks)

  1. An act of rocking; a rocking motion; a sway.

Noun (3)

rock (uncountable)

  1. A style of music characterized by basic drum-beat, generally 4/4 riffs, based on (usually electric) guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards (often), and vocals.

Verb (3)

rock (third-person singular simple present rocks, present participle rocking, simple past and past participle rocked)

  1. (intransitive) To play, perform, or enjoy rock music, especially with a lot of skill or energy.
    • Let's rock!
    • I wanna rock! (Rock!) / I wanna rock! (Rock!) / I want to rock! (Rock!) / I wanna rock! (Rock!)1984, Dee Snider, “I Wanna Rock”, in Stay Hungry, performed by Twisted Sister
  2. (transitive) To thrill or excite, especially with rock music.
    • Let's rock this joint!
  3. (intransitive) To have people dancing and enjoying rock music.
    • The scene was rocking, all were digging the sounds
      Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds
      The coffin-bangers were about to arrive
      With their vocal group, The Crypt-Kicker Five.1962, “Monster Mash”, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Lenny Capizzi (lyrics), performed by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers
  4. (transitive) To do something with excitement yet skillfully.
    • I need to rock a piss.
  5. (transitive) To wear (a piece of clothing, outfit etc.) successfully or with style; to carry off (a particular look, style).
    • I call all the shots, rip all the spots / Rock all the rocks, cop all the drops1997, “Mo Money Mo Problems”, in Life After Death, performed by The Notorious B.I.G. ft. Ma$e and Diddy
    • Take today, where she's rocking that well-known fashion combo – a Tory Burch outfit offset with a whacking great bruise attained by smacking her head on a plane's overhead lockers.2011 April 29, Tim Jonze, “Nerdy but nice”, in The Guardian
    Synonyms:
    sport

Noun (4)

rock (countable and uncountable, plural rocks)

  1. (countable) Distaff.
    • Sad Clotho held the rocke, the whiles the thread / By grisly Lachesis was spun with pain, / That cruel Atropos eftsoon undid.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 48
    • By order of the General Court in 1642, the "prudentiall" men of each town were instructed "to take care of such [children] as are sett to keep cattle be set to some other employment withal, as spinning upon the rock, knitting, weaving tape, etc., and that boys and girls be not suffered to converse...1899, T Frank Waters, The Development of Our Town Government
  2. (uncountable) The flax or wool on a distaff.

Proper noun capitalized: Rock

Rock

  1. A topographic surname from Middle English for someone living near a rock or an oak ( atter + oke ).
    • Jada Pinkett Smith found herself at the center of conflict when her husband Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony March 27. Rock joked about Pinkett Smith’s shaved head – a look she has said is more than a style preference.2022 June 1, Kristen Rogers, “What causes alopecia, a ‘devastating’ hair loss condition affecting Jada Pinkett Smith”, in CNN
  2. A male given name transferred from the surname.
  3. A coastal village in St Minver Lowlands parish, north Cornwall (OS grid ref SW9375).
  4. A hamlet in Membury parish, East Devon district, Devon (OS grid ref ST2702).
  5. A village in Rennington parish, northern Northumberland (OS grid ref NU2020).
  6. A hamlet in Curry Mallet parish, South Somerset district and North Curry parish, Somerset West and Taunton district, Somerset (OS grid ref ST3222).
  7. A hamlet in Washington parish, Horsham district, West Sussex (OS grid ref TQ1214).
  8. A village and civil parish in Wyre Forest district, Worcestershire (OS grid ref SO7371).
  9. A hamlet in Blackwood community, Caerphilly borough county borough (OS grid ref ST1898).
  10. A hamlet north-east of Cwmavon, Neath Port Talbot borough county borough (OS grid ref SS7993).
  11. The Rock, a village south-west of Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
  12. An unincorporated community in Cowley County, Kansas.
Show 9 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. An unincorporated community in Maple Ridge Township, Delta County, Michigan.
  2. An unincorporated community in Mercer County, West Virginia.
  3. A town in Rock County, Wisconsin.
  4. A town in Wood County, Wisconsin.
  5. A number of townships in the United States, listed under Rock Township.
  6. (preceded by "the" or "The") Nickname of Gibraltar.
  7. (Australia, preceded by "the" or "The") Nickname of Uluru.
  8. (preceded by "the" or "The") Nickname of the prison on Alcatraz Island, USA.
  9. (Canada, preceded by "the" or "The") Nickname of the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Also used as

rock is also the archaic form of roc.

rock meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali

rock in Hindi

natural mineral aggregate
चट्टान caṭṭān
large stone or boulder — see also boulder
चट्टान caṭṭān
style of music
रॉक संगीत rŏk saṅgīt, रॉक rŏk

rock in Tamil

natural mineral aggregate
கல் kal

rock in Marathi

natural mineral aggregate
खडक khaḍak
mass of projecting rock
सुळका suḷkā
unintelligent person
ढ ḍha

rock in Bengali

style of music
রক rok, রক সঙ্গীত rok śoṅgit
More languagesFewer languages
rock in Telugu
రాక్ చేయడానికి, రాక్ చెయ్యడానికి, రాక్
rock in Malayalam
റോക്ക് ചെയ്യാൻ
rock in Kannada
ರಾಕ್ ಮಾಡಲು, ರಾಕ್
rock in Punjabi
ਰੌਕ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ, ਚੱਟਾਨ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
rock in Gujarati
ખડક khaḍak
rock in Nepali
रक गर्न, चट्टान गर्न
rock in Tagalog
bato, dakbato
rock in Arabic
صَخْرَة ṣaḵra, حجر ḥagar, رُوك rūk, مُوسِيقَى اَلرُّوك mūsīqā r-rūk
rock in Malay
batu, sakhrat, rok
rock in Indonesian
bebatuan
rock in Persian
تخته سنگ, برد bard, راک râk
rock in Thai
หิน hǐn, ร็อก rɔ́k
rock in Vietnamese
đá, lắc

Examples of rock in a sentence

  • In an Instagram post on Monday, Georgina Rodríguez, the longtime girlfriend of the soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, shared a photo of a gigantic rock on her ring finger.2025 August 12, Sadiba Hasan, “Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez Are Engaged. All Eyes Are on the Ring.”, in The New York Times, New...
  • Being the best husband I can to my fantastic wife, Vic, who has been a rock by my side, through good times and bad.2026 June 22, Keir Starmer, resignation speech:
  • Rock me gently, rock me slowly, take it easy, don't you know, that I have never been loved like this before.1974, Andy Kim, “Rock Me Gently”:
  • Open up your heart / And let the loving start / Oh, woman, take me in your arms / Rock your baby.1974, Harry Wayne Casey, Richard Finch, “Rock Your Baby”, performed by George McCrae:

All 40 example sentences with rock

Synonyms of rock

28 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of rock

Forms of rock

Noun
pluralrocks
Verb
third-person singular presentrocks
present participlerocking
past participlerocked
pastrocked

Past tense of rock: rocked

Plural of rock: rocks

Origin of rock

Inherited from Middle English rocke, rokke (“rock formation”), from Old English *rocc (“rock”), as in Old English stānrocc (“high stone rock, peak, obelisk”), and also later from Anglo-Norman roque, (compare Modern French roc, roche, rocher), from Medieval Latin rocca (attested 767), of uncertain origin, sometimes said to be of Celtic (in particular, perhaps Gaulish) origin (compare Breton roc'h). Related also to Middle Low German rocke (“rock ledge”). One suggestion is that it derives from Vulgar Latin *rupica, from rupes (compare rupico).

Inherited from Middle English rokken, from Old English roccian, from Proto-West Germanic *rokkōn, from Proto-Germanic *rukkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ruknéh₂ti, from *h₃rewk-, *h₃runk-. See also obsolete Dutch rokken, Middle High German rocken (“to drag, jerk”), Modern German rücken (“to move, shift”), Icelandic rukka (“to yank”); also Latin runcāre (“to weed”), Latvian rũķēt (“to toss, dig”).

Shortened from rock and roll. Since the meaning of rock has adapted to mean a simpler, more modern, metal-like genre, rock and roll has generally been left referring to earlier forms such as that originating in the 1950s, notably more swing-oriented style.

Words formed from rock

Phrases with rock

172 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with rock

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about rock

What does rock mean?
Rock means the naturally occurring aggregate of solid mineral matter that constitutes a significant part of the earth's crust.
What is rock in Hindi?
Rock in Hindi is चट्टान (caṭṭān), रॉक संगीत (rŏk saṅgīt), रॉक (rŏk). See Rock meaning in Hindi.
How do you use rock in a sentence?
In an Instagram post on Monday, Georgina Rodríguez, the longtime girlfriend of the soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, shared a photo of a gigantic rock on her ring finger.
What part of speech is rock?
Rock can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce rock?
Rock is pronounced /ɹɒk/ (UK).
What is the plural of rock?
The plural of rock is rocks.

Words near rock in the dictionary

  1. Rochon prism
  2. Rochon prisms
  3. Rochon-Duvigneaud's syndrome
  4. Rochons
  5. rociletinib
  6. rock
  7. rock & roll
  8. rock 'n roll
  9. rock 'n' roll
  10. Rock Against Communism
  11. rock alder

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rock (page history and authors); Rock (page history and authors); rock (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rock (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rock (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rock (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rock (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-rock.ogg, en-au-Rock.ogg.

Cite this entry: “rock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.