Rough Riders Definition & Meaning

American

Cultural

Examples

Rough Riders American

plural noun

1. the members of a volunteer regiment of cavalry organized by Theodore Roosevelt and Leonard Wood for service in the Spanish-American War.

Rough Riders Cultural

1. The nickname of a volunteer group of cavalry led by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in the Spanish-American War. They were famous for a victorious charge at the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Volunteer Cavalry—the Rough Riders, who helped to secure an American victory at the Battle of San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898.

From The Wall Street Journal

The image of him and his Rough Riders charging up Cuba’s San Juan Hill became the Spanish-American War’s enduring image, but the orders he would give for operations in the Philippines would prove more consequential.

From The Wall Street Journal

The New York Times journalist, who has also written books about the Rough Riders, the Civil Rights Act and whiskey, chronicles how national hysteria can take on a life of its own, like a deadly fever dream that overtakes the public consciousness.

From Los Angeles Times

In time it welcomed the Rough Riders and their fellows, the World War I doughboys, the GI Joes of the “good war,” the not-a-war-but-a-conflict Korean veterans, the grunts and jarheads of Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan.

From Los Angeles Times

“I think it feels really great to come out here and just showcase what our team could do,” Barnes said, leading the Bulldogs to a 62-0 victory —their first over the Rough Riders — the largest win in program history.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.