Word.ws English Dictionary

roughage

Syllables: rough·age/ˈɹʌfɪd͡ʒ/

roughage noun: originally (archaic), garbage, rubbish, or waste; later (agriculture) the portions of a crop which are discarded, such as husks, stalks, etc.; also, agricultural waste such as weeds.

Noun

roughage (countable and uncountable, plural roughages)

  1. Originally (archaic), garbage, rubbish, or waste; later (agriculture) the portions of a crop which are discarded, such as husks, stalks, etc.; also, agricultural waste such as weeds.
    Antonyms:
    nonroughage
  2. Coarse or rough plant material such as hay and silage used as animal fodder.
    Synonyms:
    roughness
  3. (nutrition) Substances, generally of plant origin, consisting mostly of complex carbohydrates which are undigested when eaten by humans, and which therefore help the passage of food and waste through the alimentary tract; dietary fibre.
    • I keep telling her not to eat all that roughage for brekky; prunes, bran, and baked beans.1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 188
    Antonyms:
    nonroughage

roughage meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malay

roughage in Hindi

substances which are undigested when eaten by humans, and which therefore help the passage of food and waste through the alimentary tract — see also dietary fibre
रुक्षांश rukṣāñś, रफ़ेज rafej

roughage in Tamil

ஐதுத்தீன, கரடு, கூளத்தீவனம், சக்கைத்தீவனம், திப்பி, நார்த் தீவனம்

roughage in Urdu

substances which are undigested when eaten by humans, and which therefore help the passage of food and waste through the alimentary tract — see also dietary fibre
رفیج rafej

roughage in Malay

substances which are undigested when eaten by humans, and which therefore help the passage of food and waste through the alimentary tract — see also dietary fibre
pelawas

Synonyms of roughage

Antonyms

Forms of roughage

pluralroughages
alternative formruffage

Origin of roughage

From rough (“not smooth; crude, unrefined”) + -age (suffix forming nouns with the sense of appurtenance or collection).

Words formed from roughage

Questions about roughage

What does roughage mean?
Roughage means originally (archaic), garbage, rubbish, or waste; later (agriculture) the portions of a crop which are discarded, such as husks, stalks, etc.; also, agricultural waste such as weeds.
What is roughage in Hindi?
Roughage in Hindi is रुक्षांश (rukṣāñś), रफ़ेज (rafej). See Roughage meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is roughage?
Roughage is a noun.
How do you pronounce roughage?
Roughage is pronounced /ˈɹʌfɪd͡ʒ/ (UK).
What is the plural of roughage?
The plural of roughage is roughages.

Words near roughage in the dictionary

  1. rough-stalked meadow grass
  2. rough-toothed dolphin
  3. rough-toothed dolphins
  4. rough-winged swallow
  5. rough-winged swallows
  6. roughage
  7. roughages
  8. Rougham
  9. Roughan
  10. Roughans
  11. roughcast

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: roughage (page history and authors); roughage (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-roughage.wav, En-us-roughage.oga.

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