roughneck
8 synonyms for roughneck, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — A labourer on an oil rig or in the oilpatch, either skilled or semiskilled.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Etymology
Formed from rough and neck; it originally meant “someone who works a manual labour job”.
Full origin of roughneck →