Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Not cooked: Food that has not been prepared or heated for eating.
   • In a natural state; not processed or refined: Materials or data that are unprocessed, untreated, or unanalyzed.
   • Lacking experience or training; untrained: A person who is new, inexperienced, or not yet skilled.
   • Painfully exposed, as a wound: Skin or flesh that is abraded, sore, or unprotected.
   • Unpleasantly damp and cold: Weather or air that is harshly chilly and wet.
   • Frank and realistic in an unpleasant way; crude: Something presented without softening or concealment.
   • Unfair or harsh: Treatment or an agreement that is unjust.

2. Noun:

   • A sore or painful spot on the body.
   • Informal: The state of being naked.

Examples

• Adjective:

  • She prefers to eat raw vegetables in her salad.
  • The factory imports raw materials like cotton and iron ore.
  • He's a raw recruit with no military experience.
  • The fall left a raw scrape on his knee.
  • They endured a raw winter wind coming off the ocean.
  • The film offers a raw portrayal of urban poverty.
  • Many workers felt they had received a raw deal in the contract negotiations.

• Noun:

  • The tight shoe rubbed a raw on his heel.
  • He ran out of the sauna and jumped into the pool in the raw.

Advanced Usage

• "raw data": Unprocessed, collected information that has not been organized or analyzed.

  • The scientist spent months collecting raw data from the experiment.

• "raw talent": Natural ability that is impressive but not yet developed or trained.

  • The young singer has raw talent but needs professional coaching.

• "raw nerve": A subject or issue that causes someone immediate and intense emotional pain or anger.

  • His criticism about her family touched a raw nerve.

Variants and Related Words

• Rawboned (adj): Having a lean, gaunt physique with prominent bones.
• Rawhide (n): Untanned leather.
• Rawly (adv): In a raw manner.

Synonyms

• Uncooked (for food).
• Unprocessed, crude, natural (for materials).
• Inexperienced, green, untrained (for people).
• Abraded, sore (for wounds).
• Bleak, chilly (for weather).
• Unvarnished, blunt (for descriptions).
• Unjust, unfair (for treatment).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Touch (someone) on the raw: To upset someone by referring to a subject they are very sensitive about.
  • His comment about her failed business touched her on the raw.

Related Idioms

• A raw deal: Unfair or harsh treatment.

  • She got a raw deal when she was fired without warning.

• In the raw:

  • In a natural, unprocessed, or uncivilized state.

    • We saw nature in the raw on the remote island.
  • Naked.

    • The children were swimming in the raw.

Adjective

1. (used informally) completely unclothed
2. lacking training or experience
   • the new men were eager to fight
   • raw recruits
3. used of wood and furniture
   • raw wood
4. unpleasantly cold and damp
   • bleak winds of the North Atlantic
5. hurting
   • the tender spot on his jaw
6. untempered and unrefined
   • raw talent
   • raw beauty
7. not processed or subjected to analysis
   • raw data
   • the raw cost of production
   • only the crude vital statistics
8. brutally unfair or harsh
   • received raw treatment from his friends
   • a raw deal
9. devoid of elaboration or diminution or concealment; bare and pure
   • naked ambition
   • raw fury
   • you may kill someone someday with your raw power
10. not processed or refined
    • raw sewage
11. not treated with heat to prepare it for eating
12. having the surface exposed and painful
    • a raw wound
13. (used especially of commodities) being unprocessed or manufactured using only simple or minimal processes
    • natural yogurt
    • natural produce
    • raw wool
    • raw sugar
    • bales of rude cotton

Noun

1. informal terms for nakedness
   • in the raw
   • in the altogether
   • in his birthday suit