rogue means vicious and solitary. It carries an Arena rating of 1726, earned across 28 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, rogue ranks #1,498 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #4,704 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #5,003 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #5,164 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
rogue is pronounced /ˈɹəʊɡ/.
Why “rogue” is a great word
A scoundrel or rascal; or, as an adjective, deceitful and unprincipled, or large, destructive, and unpredictable. Its lineage is uncertain, possibly from earlier English 'roger' (a begging vagabond pretending to be a poor scholar), from Latin *rogō* ('to ask'). Alternatively from Middle French *rogue* ('arrogant, haughty'), possibly from Old Norse *hrokr* ('excess'). Unlike a 'scamp,' which suggests a playful imp, or a 'renegade,' which marks a specific betrayal, a rogue is defined by a core of unscrupulous unpredictability. It is the charming cardsharp with a hidden ace, the elephant that breaks from the herd to trample a village, the state that operates outside every treaty—a force that has slipped its tether, for good or ill, and walks alone.
Etymology
Uncertain. From either: * Earlier English roger (“a begging vagabond who pretends to be a poor scholar from Oxford or Cambridge”), possibly from Latin rogō (“to ask”). * Middle French rogue (“arrogant, haughty”), from Old Northern French rogre (“aggressive”), from Old Norse hrokr (“excess, exuberance”), for which see Icelandic hroki (“arrogance”), though OED does not document this. * Celtic; see Breton rog (“haughty”).
adj
- Vicious and solitary.e.g.“Mosquito. One lone rogue mosquito.” — 1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 140:
- Large, destructive and unpredictable.
- Deceitful, unprincipled.
- Mischievous, unpredictable.
noun
- A scoundrel, rascal or unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person.e.g.“And meet time it was, when yon usher, vinegar-faced rogue that he is, began to inquire what popish trangam you were wearing […]” — 1834, Sir Walter Scott, The abbott: being a sequel to The monastery, Volume 19:
- A mischievous scamp.e.g.“Ah, you sweet little rogue, you!” — c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isa
- A vagrant.
- Malware that deceitfully presents itself as antispyware.
- An aggressive animal separate from the herd, especially an elephant.e.g.“If he is a rogue, and there's any truth to territoriality at all, we got a good chance of spotting him between Cape Scott and South Beach.” — 1975, Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb, Jaws, spoken by Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss):
- A horse, mule, or donkey that is difficult to control; a refractory horse, especially a racehorse.e.g.“The rogues among the horses and mules sought every chance to break the line and hide under shady trees where sweet grass grew.” — 1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 7:
- A plant that shows some undesirable variation.
- A character class focusing on stealthy conduct.e.g.“As a rogue, I weave together light and heavy attacks, sometimes holding a button longer to charge an attack and build up the stagger meter on an enemy.” — 2025 February 7, Lauren Morton, “Review: Dragon Age: The Veilguard”, in PC Gamer (US), number 392, page 54; published online 28 October 2024:
verb
- To cull; to destroy plants not meeting a required standard, especially when saving seed, rogue or unwanted plants are removed before pollination.
- To cheat.e.g.“And then to think that Mark should have rogued me of five shiners! He was clever—that's a fact.” — 1883, Prairie Farmer, volume 55, page 29:
- To give the name or designation of rogue to; to decry.e.g.“he Atheists may endeavour to rogue and ridicule all incorporeal Substance” — 1678, R[alph] Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe: The First Part; wherein All the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism is Confuted; and Its Impossibility Demonstrated, London: […] Rich
- To wander; to play the vagabond; to play knavish tricks.e.g.“if hee be but once so taken idlely roguing” — 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Anc
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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