rough-and-tumble
rough-and-tumble adjective: active, vigorous and rough, with the possibility of harm.
Adjective
rough-and-tumble (comparative more rough-and-tumble, superlative most rough-and-tumble)
- Active, vigorous and rough, with the possibility of harm.
- An assistant about the theatre grappled him, and they were soon upon the floor engaged in a regular rough-and-tumble fight.1846, William Trotter Porter, A Quarter Race in Kentucky: And Other Sketches, page 115
- [To Sonny] When you look in a mirror, you see this rough-and-tumble old-school cowboy. Doesn't take orders, goes his own way, huh? A lone wolf. Well, I have news for you: Formula One is a team sport. It always was.2025, Ehren Kruger, F1: The Movie, spoken by Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon)
- Highly competitive.
- She found fame and success in the rough-and-tumble garment district.
Noun
rough-and-tumble (plural rough-and-tumbles)
- Rough activity; fighting or brawling; a fight.
- "You played Rugger for Ireland, did you not? You don't mind a possible rough-and-tumble, do you?" Malone grinned over the receiver.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019
- She liked ragging; but ragging — and nothing more — these rough-and-tumbles remained1995, Anthony Powell, A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement, page 23
- An environment of rough activity.
- A person who characteristically engages in such activity.
- This will appear a very tedious process to some of our rough-and-tumbles.1854, William Chorlton, “The Culture of Celery”, in Luther Tucker, editor, The Horticulturist, and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste, page 166
Verb
rough-and-tumble (third-person singular simple present rough-and-tumbles, present participle rough-and-tumbling, simple past and past participle rough-and-tumbled)
- To engage in rough-and-tumble activity.
- But, for all that, our British experience of electioneering "rough-and-tumbling'" has long blunted the edge of our moral anger.1853, Thomas De Quincey, Historical and Critical Essays, page 4
- Although examples could be found throughout the South, rough-and-tumbling was best suited to the backwoods.1995, David Kenneth Wiggins, Sport in America: From Wicked Amusement to National Obsession, page 38
rough-and-tumble meaning in Tamil
rough-and-tumble in Tamil
- துண்டுத்துணுக்குச் சண்டை, ஒழுங்கற்ற தாறுமாறான, குப்பை கூளமாயுள்ள, செயல்முறை விதிகட்கு மாறான
Forms of rough-and-tumble
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more rough-and-tumble |
| superlative | most rough-and-tumble |
| alternative form | rough and tumble |
| Noun | |
| plural | rough-and-tumbles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | rough-and-tumbles |
| present participle | rough-and-tumbling |
| past participle | rough-and-tumbled |
| past | rough-and-tumbled |
Origin of rough-and-tumble
From rough + and + tumble.
Questions about rough-and-tumble
- What does rough-and-tumble mean?
- Rough-and-tumble means active, vigorous and rough, with the possibility of harm.
- What is rough-and-tumble in Tamil?
- Rough-and-tumble in Tamil is துண்டுத்துணுக்குச் சண்டை, ஒழுங்கற்ற தாறுமாறான, குப்பை கூளமாயுள்ள. See Rough-and-tumble meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is rough-and-tumble?
- Rough-and-tumble can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
Words near rough-and-tumble in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rough-and-tumble (page history and authors); rough-and-tumble (Tamil Wiktionary) (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:
Cite this entry: “rough-and-tumble.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rough-and-tumble. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.