sleeping rough
Outdoors without shelter
Sleeping rough means sleeping outdoors without proper shelter, typically because one is homeless.
The phrase is primarily British: He spent three months sleeping rough under bridges.
It emphasizes the hardship of exposure to the elements rather than merely being outside—camping isn't sleeping rough, but living on the streets is.
- homelessnessLacking permanent residence
- destitutionExtreme poverty, lacking necessities
- vagrancyOffense of rootless wandering
- down and outLacking money and hope
- itinerancyHabitual movement between places
on the streets · squatting · urban poverty · parish relief · encampments · pauperism · skid row · social stigma · temporary shelters · marginalization · social exclusion · street begging · spare change · charitable aid · soup kitchens · public nuisance · wandering · park bench
- survival tacticspanhandling, dumpster diving, scavenging, squatting, soup kitchens
- vagrancyloitering, panhandling, begging, homelessness, itinerancy
- minor offensesminor offense, white lie, petty offense, fib, jaywalking
sleeping roughhomeownership
Legally possessing residential property
renting · housed · tenancy · social housing · council housing
sleeping roughcamping
Outdoor recreational lodging
recreational camping · wilderness camping · glamping · adventure travel · outdoor adventure
sleep, sleeping, sleeps, slept, sleeper, sleepers, sleepy, sleepless, sleeplessness