May 10, 2026 · The meaning of ROUGHNECK is a rough or uncouth person. How to use roughneck in a sentence.

A roughneck is a person whose occupation is hard manual labor. The term applies across a number of industries, but is most commonly associated with the workers on a drilling rig.

The ideal of the hard-working, tough roughneck has been adopted by several sports teams who use the phrase as part of their name or logo.

A roughneck is a troublemaker who gets in a lot of fights and doesn’t have good manners. Roughnecks are also men who work at dangerous, grueling hard-labor jobs.

If you describe someone as a roughneck, you disapprove of them because you think they are not gentle or polite, and can be violent.

ROUGHNECK meaning: 1 : someone who behaves in a rough, rude, or aggressive way; 2 : someone who works on an oil rig or at an oil well

A group of roughneck mercenaries are recruited by a private military contractor to guard some expensive assets in a conflict zone.

If you describe someone as a roughneck, you disapprove of them because you think they are not gentle or polite, and can be violent.

A roughneck is a troublemaker who gets in a lot of fights and doesn’t have good manners. Roughnecks are also men who work at dangerous, grueling hard-labor jobs.

Definition of roughneck noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.