gruffness

He lacked the abrasiveness or gruffness found in many metal singers, opting instead for a theatrical melodic yowl with silvery overtones.

“I really like what he did, and I like the decisions that he made,” said Haith, who added that, at first, ”I really liked that gruffness about him.”

And his vocal runs in a song like “Keith Whitley,” titled after the late country singer, have an appealing gruffness even at their nimblest.

Valentina's gruffness is a rough mosaic combining her wish to have her orders followed and her desire to be left alone.

I imagine Marshall peering down at counsel and interjecting, with his trademark gruffness: “You have got to be kidding me.”