Meanings
plural rough cuts
- broadcastingThe second of three stages of offline editing of a film, recognizable as a conventional film but having notable defects such as incomplete narrative flow and missing visual or sound effects.
Synonyms: rough edit
- A poor quality reproduction of an illustration in a printed work.
In this small quarto volume the illustrations are rough cuts.
1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, The Old English Herbals, London: Longmans, Green and Co., page 10
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe second of three stages of offline editing of a film, recognizable as a conventional film but having notable defects such as incomplete narrative flow and missing visual or sound effects.
Origin
From the early days of filmmaking when film stock was physically cut and reassembled.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
rough cut. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rough%20cut
“rough cut.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rough%20cut. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rough cut,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rough%20cut.
Source: rough cut on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.