Meaning & use
roughing it
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“roughing it” is a form of “rough it”.
Meaning
phraseidiominformal
living for a time without the usual comforts of home, such as hot water or a real bed.
Grammar: Comes from the idiom 'rough it'; the pronoun 'it' does not refer to anything specific and cannot be changed.
Patterns
- be roughing it
- go roughing it
- spend time roughing it
We spent the weekend roughing it in a cabin with no electricity.
After years of hotels, she actually enjoys roughing it on the trail.
They are roughing it for a month while they travel around the coast.
Word forms
| base form | rough it |
|---|---|
| third person singular | roughs it |
| past tense | roughed it |
| past participle | roughed it |
Common combinations
- rough it for a week
- They roughed it for a week in the desert.
- enjoy roughing it
- Not everyone enjoys roughing it, but I love camping.
- used to roughing it
- After the army, he was used to roughing it.
Synonyms and how they differ
- camping
- More specific: it means sleeping outdoors in a tent, while roughing it can also mean staying in a simple room without comforts.
- slumming it
- Informal and often disapproving; it suggests someone is choosing a lower standard for fun, which roughing it does not always imply.
Word family
- rough adjective
- The base adjective meaning not smooth or not comfortable.
Commonly confused: roughing it or roughing?
roughing it vs roughing
In sports, 'roughing' means playing too roughly and can be a penalty; 'roughing it' is only about living without comforts.
Practice
They ___ it in a tent for three weeks while hiking in the mountains.
Choose one answer.
The idiom needs a verb form before 'it'. The past tense 'roughed' fits the past time phrase 'for three weeks'. 'Rough' is an adjective and cannot take 'it' here, and 'roughing' or 'roughs' would not agree with the past tense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “roughing it”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.