Meanings
- Unprocessed, rough.
I guaranteed him that in both these synagogues hakafot would provide him with music "in the raw."
2017, Velvel Pasternak, Behind the Music, Stories, Anecdotes, Articles and Reflections, page 37Synonyms: in the rough
- idiomaticIn the natural state; in real life.
In spite of defending indecency, Jacob doubted whether he liked it in the raw.
1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 6, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC2 more examples
He was seeing life in the raw, and it was a different life from what he had known within the printed books of his library.
1908 February 19, Jack London, chapter 12, in The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC1921, Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche, He read there in the raw what is perhaps the most amazing page in the history of human development, and in the end he was forced to the conclusion that all his early preconceptions had been at fault, and that it was such exalted, passionate enthusiasts as Vilmorin who had been right.
- euphemisticidiomaticNaked.
As he waited for Pamela to return, Richard was standing in the raw before his full-length mirror.
2010, Mark J. Okrant, A Last Resort, page 903 more examples
Bond looked grimly at the pile of parcels which contained his new identity, stripped off his pyjamas for the last time ('We mostly sleep in the raw in America, Mr Bond') and gave himself a sizzling cold shower.
1954, Ian Fleming, “A Visiting-Card”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 25He stood gawking at Cyndee, who was standing in the raw on the shore of the pond his daddy had put in.
2001, Doug McGuinn, The Apple Indians, page 39James brought his hand away and immediately jumped at the sight of Cole standing in the raw, calmly passing the bag back to the inspector. “I thought you said it was safe to look,” he accused.
2011, J. L. O'Faolain, The Thirteenth Child, page 88Synonyms: in the altogether, in the buff, in the nude, in the pink
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseUnprocessed, rough.
prepositional phraseNaked.
More synonyms by meaning
adjective(used informally) completely unclothed
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Ellipsis of in the raw state.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
in the raw. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20raw
“in the raw.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20raw. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in the raw,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20raw.
Source: in the raw on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.