Word.ws English Dictionary

roughcast

/ˈɹʌfkæst/

roughcast noun: a crude model.

Noun

roughcast (countable and uncountable, plural roughcasts)

  1. A crude model.
    • The whole piece […]seems […]a loose model and roughcast of what I design to do.1644, Kenelme [i.e., Kenelm] Digby, Two Treatises. In the One of which, the Nature of Bodies; in the Other, the Nature of Mans Soule; is Looked into: In Way of Discovery, of the Immortality of...
    • All the objects left in or near the quarries are unfinished roughcasts.1986, Pierre Vérin, The History of Civilisation in North Madagascar, page 280
  2. A rough surface finish, as of a plaster or stucco wall.
    • The branches met overhead in a kind of bower and the three cops stood in the shade and studied the roughcast gable of the cottage, maybe fifty yards on up the hill.2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 444
    Synonyms:
    pebbledash
  3. A mixture of pebbles or similar material used to finish a plaster or concrete wall.

Verb

roughcast (third-person singular simple present roughcasts, present participle roughcasting, simple past and past participle roughcast or (common, but sometimes proscribed) roughcasted)

  1. (transitive) To shape crudely; to form in its first rudiments, without correction or polish.
    • This rough cast unhewn poetry was instead of stage plays for 120 years1693, John Dryden, “[The Dedication]”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson...
    • Nor bodily, nor ghostly negro could / Rough-ccast thy figure in a sadder mould.1656, John Cleveland, The Kings Disguise
  2. To apply a roughcast finish to.
    • to roughcast a wall or building

Adjective

roughcast (comparative more roughcast, superlative most roughcast)

  1. Unpolished.
    • A brilliant blaze, kindled with dry wood, enlightened the whole interior of this fresh looking, roughcast, timbered apartment.1833, Timothy Flint, Don't give up the ship; or, The good son
    • Understand: I'm a roughcast fly fisherman, an empirical self-taught duffer.2003, John McPhee, The Founding Fish, page 131

Examples of roughcast in a sentence

  • They first attached the paper-cuttings directly onto the roughcast of china, then they applied glaze to it.2005, China's Ethnic Groups - Issues 1-4:
  • In equal machining of cylindrical cam's groove, roughcast of cylindrical cam is clamped in revolving spindle of NC milling machine.2009, Bo Zhao, Xipeng Xu, Advances in grinding and abrasive technology XV:
  • Powder pressing, also known as mould pressing or isostatic pressing, involves processing ceramic powder into components or roughcasts to be sintered to certain sizes, shapes, density, and stiffness.2017, Yufeng Jin, Zhiping Wang, Jing Chen, Introduction to Microsystem Packaging Technology, page 43:
  • Dutt (1913) states that madraspatanum wasps build all their cells and then roughcast the whole group together, i.e. that they make a crepissage.1968, Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society - Volume 65, page 159:

Synonyms of roughcast

Forms of roughcast

Noun
pluralroughcasts
Verb
third-person singular presentroughcasts
present participleroughcasting
past participleroughcast
pastroughcast
past participle common error-unknown-tag proscribed sometimesroughcasted
past common error-unknown-tag proscribed sometimesroughcasted
Adjective
comparativemore roughcast
superlativemost roughcast

Origin of roughcast

From rough + cast.

Questions about roughcast

What does roughcast mean?
Roughcast means a crude model.
How do you use roughcast in a sentence?
They first attached the paper-cuttings directly onto the roughcast of china, then they applied glaze to it.
What part of speech is roughcast?
Roughcast can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce roughcast?
Roughcast is pronounced /ˈɹʌfkæst/.
What is the plural of roughcast?
The plural of roughcast is roughcasts.

Words near roughcast in the dictionary

  1. roughage
  2. roughages
  3. Rougham
  4. Roughan
  5. Roughans
  6. roughcast
  7. roughcasted
  8. roughcaster
  9. roughcasters
  10. roughcasting
  11. roughcasts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: roughcast (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-roughcast.wav.

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