What it means
A diamond in the rough is someone or something that's clearly got real value, even if the outside looks messy, awkward, scruffy, or not quite finished yet. The shine's there, it's just buried under a bit of chaos. You spot the quality before the glow-up lands.
Usage examples
"The flat was a diamond in the rough, peeling walls and a jungle of a garden, but the bones of the place were beautiful."
"The new bakery on the high street in Margate is a diamond in the rough, the shop front needs paint, the till is from nineteen ninety-three, but the sourdough is the best within fifty miles and the queue at lunchtime already stretches halfway to the chip shop next door."
"My nephew was a diamond in the rough at school, struggled with reading until he was eleven, never quite fit into the football team, but won the national chemistry olympiad at sixteen and now works in a research lab at Imperial College in London with a PhD in his sights."
"Yeah, his CV looked a bit chaotic, but the guy's a diamond in the rough. Give him six months and he'll be running the whole team."
"That little café by the station is a proper diamond in the rough. The chairs wobble, the sign's half dead, but the food slaps every single time."
Where it comes from
It comes from literal diamonds in their raw, uncut state. English has used rough diamond since the 1700s for a stone before polishing, and by the early 1800s people were using it for a person or thing with obvious worth hidden under an unrefined surface.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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