Meaning
Someone with genuinely good qualities or outstanding potential whose manners, background, or appearance are unpolished. The saying is usually affectionate or appreciative rather than insulting, and it can also describe a thing of hidden value, such as a run-down house or an overlooked manuscript. British speakers tend to say 'rough diamond', while 'diamond in the rough' is the usual form elsewhere, especially in North America. Warm and appreciative in tone, though it still labels someone unrefined, so context and delivery matter. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The metaphor is the uncut diamond, a dull-looking stone that can be polished into a brilliant jewel. The older and, in Britain, standard form is 'rough diamond': the Phrase Finder records its first print use in John Fletcher's play A Wife for a Month (1624), where a woman is described as 'as hard to cut as a rough diamond'. Merriam-Webster dates the exact wording 'diamond in the rough' to 1785, so the two forms have separate citation histories rather than a disputed origin. The literal lapidary sense came first and the figurative application to unpolished but worthy people followed. The Phrase Finder also notes a narrower British use for good-hearted characters with a lax respect for the law, the lovable-rogue type.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a rough diamond
- a rough gem
- an uncut diamond
- an unpolished diamond
Usage Examples
- The new intern is a diamond in the rough: her spreadsheets are chaotic, but her instinct for design is extraordinary.
- Beneath the peeling wallpaper and warped shutters, the cottage was a diamond in the rough waiting for a careful renovation.
- Recruiters often pass over diamonds in the rough because their CVs lack the usual credentials.