Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂-der. Proto-Italic [Term?] Latin crūdusbor. Middle English crude English crude Doublet of crudo, which was borrowed from Italian, and (more distantly) raw through Proto-Indo-European.
Characterized by simplicity, especially something not carefully or expertly made.
a crude shelter
a crude estimate
2 more examples
a crude guess
City Comedies depicted the pursuit of wealth, status, and women in Jacobean London. In a typical plot, a ne'er-do-well young gentleman dupes his older relatives out of money, while lower-class rascals play cruder tricks on respectable citizens.1983, Wendy Griswold, “The Devil's Techniques: Cultural Legitimation and Social Change”, in American Sociological Review, volume 48, number 5, page 672 of 668–680:
3
Lacking concealing elements.
a crude truth
4
Lacking tact or taste.
a crude remark
You shouldn't use such crude language when talking to the bank manager.
1 more example
At first, there’s something almost disconcertingly crude about the sasquatch skins.2024 June 16, Wendy Ide, “Sasquatch Sunset review – brilliant bigfoot oddity is unexpectedly moving”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
Her mete was very crude, She had not wel endude; […]c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 63, lines 77–78:
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Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Pertaining to the uninflected stem of a word.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂-der. Proto-Italic [Term?] Latin crūdusbor. Middle English crude English crude Doublet of crudo, which was borrowed from Italian, and (more distantly) raw through Proto-Indo-European.
1
Any substance in its natural state.
2
Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of crude oil.
The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847, archived from the original on 19 Aug 2022: