How to use rugged in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective

Rugged means broken into sharp or irregular points; uneven; not smooth; rough. Example: “Please put sharp objects on the rugged shelf.”

Examples of rugged by meaning

adjectiveNot neat or regular; irregular, uneven.

Commercially produced yarn, such as rayon, produces a cloth with a smoother, shinier look than hand-spun cotton, but the uneven, rugged look of hand-spun cotton can be quite appealing.2011, Ronke Luke-Boone, African Fabrics: Sewing Contemporary Fashion with Ethic Flair

adjectiveStrong, sturdy, well-built.

Many women and men delude themselves into thinking that only the hardest and most rugged man is attractive and to many it may be the case.2010, Arthur Queen Jr., Young Man: Ageless Fatherly Wisdom to Hold

adjectiveRocky and bare of plantlife.

As the train wound along the river valleys through western Pennsylvania the scenery grew more rugged and the painted houses of Lancaster County gave way to dirty clapboard dwellings and shack homes clinging to the mountainside.1953 July, Allen Rowley, “First Impressions of American Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 492
Hidden within 30,000 acres of rugged private land, the ranch is cocooned by peaks and canyons in all directions.2013, Vicky Baker, The Guardian, Riding with the cowboys on a Mexico ranch
Much of the area can be seen only by hikers who travel without trails to the higher reaches of this rugged mountain range.1971, United States Forest Service, Search for solitude: our wilderness heritage

adjectiveSour; surly; frowning; wrinkled.

"Ah!" sighed the unimaginative Granby, and his honest, rugged face grew clouded.1908, Rafael Sabatini, The Abduction

adjectiveDesigned to reliably operate in harsh usage environments and conditions.

Psion, which supplies a range of rugged hand held computers, has lost nearly 2% after announcing a plunge into the red.2011, Nick Fletcher, Psion drops 2% after supply chain issues push it into loss

adjectiveCovered with a rug.

Please put sharp objects on the rugged shelf.

More sentences with rugged

Snowflakes fell gently across the mountain’s rugged visage.From the entry visage
Here is alpine country at its best, complete with lakes and tarns set amid truly rugged promontories.2013, Gordon Sullivan, Cathie Sullivan, Photographing Montana: Where to Find Perfect Shots and How to Take Them, Woodstock, Vt.: The…. From the entry tarn
The black-top felt rugged under his jaw and cheek, yet warm from the moisture.2008, Jade Cameron, Bryony Wynne-Jones, Freedom Rider, page 1. From the entry black-top
The best maintenance technique for this rugged, hardwearing material is to do practically nothing.2007 February 1, Mitchell Owens, “Room to Improve”, in New York Times. From the entry hardwearing
The rugged, trackless and densely forested hills were almost impenetrable and the quilombos were spread widely.2003, Peter Robb, A Death in Brazil, Bloomsbury, published 2005, page 115. From the entry quilombo
Meigs The interaction between tectonism and erosion produces rugged landscapes in actively deforming regions.1997 April 25, Nicholas Brozovic et al., “Climatic Limits on Landscape Development in the Northwestern Himalaya”, in Science, volume 276…. From the entry tectonism
Here are best bets, from shapeups with time for pampering to rugged outdoor fun .1996, R. Alan Fox, 500 Best USA Vacations, page 88. From the entry shapeup
There are a number of outstanding hikes from Doll Valley along rugged trails.1994 July, Robert Storey, Taiwan - A Travel Survival Kit, 3rd edition, Lonely Planet, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 176, column 2. From the entry Chiaohsi
Hedging, as I was learning, is not just skilled work but also cold, rugged, muddy, and backaching.1993, National Geographic (volume 84? 184? page 110). From the entry backaching
Her fellow San Franciscan Fraser is a long-haired, 24-year-old ex-baseball player with rugged, modelish looks.1988 July 15, Albert Williams, “Prison Drama”, in Chicago Reader, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2015. From the entry San Franciscan
These electric motorlike devices generally are rugged, reliable performers with sufficient resolution for most machine applications.1986, Douglas M Considine, Glenn D Considine, Standard handbook of industrial automation. From the entry motorlike
This time he fled to the rugged mountains around Yoshino well to the south of Kyoto.1981, James H. Sanford, “Ikkyū Sōjun: His Life and Times”, in Zen-man Ikkyū (Studies in World Religions; 2), Chico, Calif.: Scholars…. From the entry shogunally
Within hours the storm dissipated over the rugged terrain of eastern China.1977, Climatological Data National Summary, volume 27, number 13, NOAA, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 96–97. From the entry P'ing-t'an
The county lies in a rugged, mountainous region, between the Chinho and Mangho Rivers.1971, Harry Harding, Jr., “Maoist Theories of Policy-Making and Organization”, in Thomas W. Robinson, editor, The Cultural Revolution in…. From the entry Chiyuan
I must have a definite mark by which to locate him in that rugged territory overstream.1942, Pennsylvania Game News 1942-06: Volume 13, Issue 3, Pennsylvania Game Commission, →ISBN, page 9. From the entry overstream
The quadrangle below was very beautiful, with its walls of rugged grey, its cloisters, its grass carpet.1911, Max Beerbohm, chapter II, in Zuleika Dobson. From the entry chintz
If ever music could encapsulate the spirit of Sardinia’s rugged mountains and pastoral landscapes, it is canto a tenore.2022 July 7, Alexis Averbuck, Duncan Garwood, Gregor Clark, Lonely Planet Sardinia, Lonely Planet, →ISBN, page 418. From the entry cantu a tenore
As we drove, we could hear the breakers crashing loudly onto sections of rugged windswept beach and rocky outcroppings.2016, Mark Dake, chapter 21, in South Korea: The Enigmatic Peninsula, Toronto: Dundrun Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 299. From the entry Pyeonghae
This is why a rugged, outdoorsy, lumberjack guy can find, and gain, interest from a glamorama, dolled up, girlie girl.2015, Tiffany Johnson, Find Your Happily Ever After. From the entry glamorama
A rugged landscape, two rugged men—stetsons, corduroy and denim—both gazing terse and tight-jawed at the Wyoming mountainscape. . . .2006 January 8, Jonathan Romney, “Brokeback Mountain”, in The Independent (UK), retrieved 14 Jul 2014. From the entry Marlboro Man
Corals may show steplike rugged undersides or nonenveloping growth bands that demonstrate that corals became partially buried while growing.2001, George D. Stanley, The History and Sedimentology of Ancient Reef Systems. From the entry nonenveloping
The following year, he explored the area south of Yarkant and ventured into the rugged Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan.1999, “Singh, Kishen”, in Explorers from Ancient Times to the Space Age, volume 3, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 73. From the entry Yarkant
Our first stop is in Antu County, Kirin Province, a rugged and hilly extension of the Changpai foothills.1972, Chi Hsin, “Where the Sunghua River Flows”, in The Seeds and Other Stories, Peking: Foreign Languages Press, →OCLC, page 145. From the entry hilly
It meandered through the rugged mountains of the Sierra Madre Oriental, out across the tablelands of the Central Plateau.1968, Robert S[amuel] Weddle, “Finding the Gateway”, in San Juan Bautista: Gateway to Spanish Texas, Austin, Tex.; London: University of…. From the entry México
The squatters' Australia was a rough society of rugged wealth-seekers jack-booting their determined way over an unprivileged great majority.1946, Brian Charles Fitzpatrick, The Australian People, 1788-1945, page 150. From the entry jack-boot
Beyond the living room is a “glassery” or sun-parlor with heavily beamed ceiling and a rugged stone fireplace.1922, Architectural Record - Volume 52, page 92. From the entry glassery
A bull elk can easily cover miles of rugged country in no time, especially if he is wounded or on the run.2021 [2001], John Eldredge, chapter 1, in Wild at Heart, Expanded edition, Nelson Books, →ISBN, page 2. From the entry bull
Her choice of supermarket may also have something to do with the omnipresence of that adorable, rugged, stud-muffinly security guard with the deliciously threatening MATRIX-style.2019, Ansi Verwey - von Fleckenstein, Bounce Back Babes: 26 Word Portraits of Real Women, Tredition, →ISBN. From the entry stud-muffinly
While the root beer-y sweetness of the Lillet Rouge and caramel blunt the rugged, smoky edges of the Scotch, the peatiness still comes rumbling through.2008 January 13, Jonathan Miles, “Scotch Purists Beware”, in New York Times. From the entry peatiness
A theme of rugged individualism on the part of college students running their own extracurricula pervades the period before the NCAA was born.1990, Ronald A. Smith, Sports and Freedom: The Rise of Big-Time College Athletics, →ISBN, page 134. From the entry extracurriculum
Trulleum with large pentagonal proximal plate and a narrower, gradually widening distal portion with a relatively broad melanized tip with rugged texture; end subtruncate.1989, ES Nielsen, Primitive Ghost Moths. From the entry subtruncate
These permit the limited number willing to abandon their automobiles for long hikes to visit some of the most rugged terrain in Southern California.1981, David W. Lantis, Rodney Steiner, Arthur E. Karinen, California, land of contrast, page 166. From the entry commutation

Meaning of rugged

adjective Broken into sharp or irregular points; uneven; not smooth; rough.
adjective Not neat or regular; irregular, uneven.
adjective Rough with bristly hair; shaggy.

Full definition of rugged

Questions about rugged in a sentence

How do you use rugged in a sentence?: Rugged is used as an adjective. For example: “Please put sharp objects on the rugged shelf.”
What is a short sentence with rugged?: “Please put sharp objects on the rugged shelf.”
What does rugged mean?: Rugged means broken into sharp or irregular points; uneven; not smooth; rough.

Adapted from Wiktionary: rugged (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use rugged in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/rugged. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.