gruff

Modifies a noun

• exterior: Here she begins to see the real man shine through his gruff exterior.
• voice: Having such a gruff voice - all phone calls will sound like obscene phone calls.
• vocal: I've Got Mine's failure to chart adds to its rarity value with Steve delivering a gruff vocal on the single.
• tone: The touches and pet name were usually incongruent with the gruff tones and words.
• man: Callender was a gruff, hearty man; affectionate but with a tendency to bully if you let him.
• Yorkshireman: Dalziel is a gruff Yorkshireman ( aren't we all?

Modifying Another Word

• rather: The third building on the site is a large, rather gruff brownstone on the corner of Madison Avenue.
• very: The rest always looked very gruff, not very polished.
• fairly: I was feeling in pretty good shape, despite waking up with a fairly gruff voice.
• little: Admittedly, it is a little gruffer than its gasoline equivalent.
• pretty: I'm itching to use those pretty gruff graphs, but so far I've come up dry...

Used with adjective complement

• become: Although it has been the subject of some debate in the past, Mick's voice has become gruffer over the years.