roughneck
(colloquial, chiefly, US, dated) A dirty or low-paid worker, a labourer; an ironworker in an ironworks or a steelworker in a steelworks.
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(colloquial, chiefly, US, dated) A dirty or low-paid worker, a labourer; an ironworker in an ironworks or a steelworker in a steelworks.
“This was the peak of our society. Stoned in front of the TV watching puppets made out of an old Roughneck container and a gumball machine from someone's basement. Hey man, we're in a basement right now, meta.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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(colloquial, chiefly, US) Someone with rough manners; a rowdy or uncouth person.
LaTisha has long wanted to show Carole sheʼs not the roughneck she used to be, the roughneck who wasnʼt good enough to be her friend.
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(colloquial, chiefly, US) A labourer on an oil rig or in the oilpatch, either skilled or semiskilled.
This first ship had a small geophysical-type drilling rig mounted over the side of the ship with a steel grid runround for the roughnecks, who stood in knee-deep water while making connections or pulling the drill string.
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Semantically related
- rednecky64%
(informal, chiefly, _, US) Like a redneck; rural, uneducated, unsophisticated, etc.
- redneck64%
(slang, US, usually, pejorative, offensive, ethnic slur) A poor, rural, usually white, person from the Southern United States or parts of the Midwest and Northeast, especially one whose beliefs are seen as unsophisticated and backward; sometimes with additional connotations of being bigoted.
- roustabout64%
(chiefly, US) An unskilled laborer, especially at an oilfield, at a circus or on a ship.