rocky
UK/ˈɹɒki//ˈɹɑki/
rocky adjective: abounding in, or full of, rocks; consisting of rocks.
Adjective (1)
rocky (comparative rockier or more rocky, superlative rockiest or most rocky)
- Abounding in, or full of, rocks; consisting of rocks.
- a rocky mountain a rocky shore
- The pihoihoi live in the island's interior, and the torea on its rocky shore.2003, Margaret Rose Orbell, Carolyn Lagahetau, Birds of Aotearoa: a natural and cultural history
- Like a rock; rigid, solid.
- Marsh went on as his prisoner drank. "Because you're caught in the middle of my alternate plan, Ram-Jam, which ram-jams your ass between the rockiest rock and the hardest hard place you ever imagined.1988, Lloyd Pye Lloyd Pye, Mismatch, →ISBN, page 134
- Having a habitat around or on rocks.
- Not easily affected or impressed; stony; hard; obdurate; unfeeling.
- to have a rocky heart
- Having little or no money; stony broke.
- "Come, George, fork out. I'm sorry if you're rocky too but it's an absolute that it's no good going back without it."
- "'Rocky,' my God!" said George, echoing her shallow laugh. "Well—but how much do you need to square it?"1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
Adjective (2)
rocky (comparative rockier or more rocky, superlative rockiest or most rocky)
- Easily rocked; unstable.
- The table was rocky, so we put a book under one leg.
- Encountering many problems; difficult, troubled; also, in danger or distress.
- Their relationship had weathered some rocky times, but they loved each other.
- Of a person: ill, or unsteady (for example, as a result of a shock).
Adjective (3)
rocky (comparative rockier or more rocky, superlative rockiest or most rocky)
- In the style of rock music.
- His new album is quite rocky.
Proper noun capitalized: Rocky
Rocky (countable and uncountable, plural Rockys)
- A diminutive of the male given names Robert, Ricky, Rocco, Roch, and Rock.
- ‘I didn′t know your son′s name was Rocky,’ I quietly said as we started walking again.
- ‘It's really Richard. When he was a kid we called him Ricky, which somehow turned into Rocky. Some people call him Rocco. He gets called a lot of things.’1995, Patricia Cornwell, From Potter′s Field, Berkeley Books, published 2005, →ISBN, page 82
- Diminutive of Rock (“surname”).
- nickame for a boxer, after Rocky Balboa, a fictional boxer in a series of films.
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a motion picture.
- Diminutive of Rockhampton; the regional city of Rockhampton; a city in Queensland, Australia.
- Rocky is the major city on the central Queensland coast and likes to call itself the beef capital of Australia.2005, Tim Uden, Australia: The Backpackers Ultimate Guide, 3rd edition, page 178
- Rocky has a smattering of attractions but is best seen as the gateway to the coastal gems of Yeppoon and Great Keppel Island.2008, Alan Murphy, Justin Flynn, Olivia Pozzan, Paul Harding, Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef, Lonely Planet, page 234
- A town in Oklahoma, United States.
rocky meaning in Hindi and Malayalam
rocky in Hindi
- abounding in, or full of, rocks
- पथरीला pathrīlā
- like a rock — see also rigid, rocklike, solid
- कठोर kaṭhor
rocky in Malayalam
- like a rock — see also rigid, rocklike, solid
- കല്ലൻ kallaṉ
Examples of rocky in a sentence
- The sweep of the rocky Southern California coastline off Point Fermin.
- The fontinal cliff vegetation occupies moist rocky banks, damp ledges, and dripping rocks.
- Within the Solar System, the rocky planets are the four inner planets closest to the Sun.
Synonyms of rocky
23 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of rocky
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | rockier |
| comparative | more rocky |
| superlative | rockiest |
| superlative | most rocky |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Rockys |
Origin of rocky
From Middle English rokki, rokky (“rocky”), from rok, rokke (“rock; a rock or stone; large rock by a coast or in the sea; rocky outcrop on a mountain, cliff; castle, citadel, stronghold”) [and other forms] + -i (suffix forming adjectives). Rok, rokke are derived from: * Old English *rocc (“rock”); and * Anglo-Norman roc, roce, roque, and Old French roce, roke, roque, variants of roche (“rock”); both from Medieval Latin roca, rocca; further etymology uncertain, possibly of Celtic origin. The English word is analysable as rock + -y (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘having the quality of’).
From rock (“to move back and forth”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘having the quality of’). Rock is derived from Middle English rokken (“to move (something, such as a cradle) back and forth; to move or sway back and forth in an unstable manner; to go”) […], from Old English roccian (“to rock”), from Proto-Germanic *rukkōną (“to move; to move back and forth, rock”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rewk- (“to dig; to till (soil)”).
From rock (“rock and roll music”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘having the quality of’).
Words formed from rocky
Phrases with rocky
Words that rhyme with rocky
Questions about rocky
- What does rocky mean?
- Rocky means abounding in, or full of, rocks; consisting of rocks.
- What is rocky in Hindi?
- Rocky in Hindi is पथरीला (pathrīlā), कठोर (kaṭhor). See Rocky meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is rocky?
- Rocky can be an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce rocky?
- Rocky is pronounced /ˈɹɒki/ (UK).
Words near rocky in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rocky (page history and authors); Rocky (page history and authors). 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-rocky.ogg, en-au-Rocky.ogg.
Cite this entry: “rocky.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rocky. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.