- consisting of or abounding in rocks: a rocky shore
- hard or unyielding: rocky determination
- hard like rock: rocky muscles
ˈrockiness n
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
rock•y1 /ˈrɑki/USA pronunciation
adj., -i•er, -i•est.
rock•y2 /ˈrɑki/USA pronunciation adj., -i•er, -i•est.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- full of or containing many rocks:The soil was too rocky for farming.
- made up of rock;
rocklike. - firm;
steadfast:rocky endurance.
rock•y2 /ˈrɑki/USA pronunciation adj., -i•er, -i•est.
- full of troubles or difficulties:a rocky marriage.
- physically unsteady or weak, as from sickness:felt rocky after the accident.
rock•y1
(rok′ē),USA pronunciation adj., rock•i•er, rock•i•est.
rock•y2 (rok′ē),USA pronunciation adj., rock•i•er, rock•i•est.
- full of or abounding in rocks.
- consisting of rock.
- rocklike:wood with a rocky hardness.
- firm;
steadfast:rocky endurance. - unfeeling;
without sympathy or emotion:my rocky heart.
- 1400–50; late Middle English; see rock1, -y1
rock•y2 (rok′ē),USA pronunciation adj., rock•i•er, rock•i•est.
- inclined or likely to rock;
tottering;
shaky;
unsteady. - difficult or uncertain;
full of hazards or obstacles:a business with a rocky future. - physically unsteady or weak, as from sickness.
- rock2 + -y1 1730–40
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
rocky /ˈrɒkɪ/ adj (rockier, rockiest)
ˈrockiness n
ˈrockiness n
rocky /ˈrɒkɪ/ adj (rockier, rockiest) weak, shaky, or unstable informal (of a person) dizzy; sickly; nauseated ˈrockily adv ˈrockiness n
'rocky' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Alberta
- Alberta clipper
- Algonquian
- Athabasca
- baboon
- Banff
- Barbary ape
- bladderwrack
- Burgess Shale
- Canada
- Cape Horn
- cave
- Chatham Islands
- chinook
- Colorado
- Columbia
- Cordilleras
- cove
- Great Plains
- guano
- Idaho
- Iguaçú Falls
- inselberg
- ironbound
- klipspringer
- lithophyte
- lobster
- Longs Peak
- macaque
- Monaco
- Montana
- Mont-Saint-Michel
- mountain
- promontory
- pronghorn
- riffle
- ring ouzel
- risk
- rock cod
- rock plant
- Rockies
- Rocky Mountains
- Rocky Mountain spotted fever
- rugged
- Sangre de Cristo Mountains
- San Juan Mountains
- shanny
- shoal
- Sioux
- Absaroka Range