rough diamond
diamond in the rough AmE

He appears as something of a rough diamond throughout the books.

Far too much the rough diamond for you, I suppose.

I've seen rough diamonds too often to have any doubts.

Her second husband is a rough diamond with a shady past.

Many "rough diamonds" have parents who are not high school graduates.

Being a rough diamond, he has rather been put down by people right from the beginning, and it's sort of eaten into him, you see.

He was a rough diamond and never attempted to polish it.

Its borders make a rough diamond shape on a map.

The yield: roughly one coffee can full of rough diamonds.

Eventually the rough diamond got smooth, and we became friends."

Morgan is more of a rough diamond than I bargained for.

She walks through the countryside and picks up rough diamonds.

The hotel, he added, "is like a very large, rough diamond."

This being the case, Angola will unfortunately remain a very rough diamond.

A ban on the import of rough diamonds was imposed.

He's the best teacher around, and he can spot a kid who's just a rough diamond."

Scotland's original ski resort, and a bit of a rough diamond.

It needed rejigging sure, but was a rough diamond surely.

He was pondering what to name one of four gems cut from a 265.82-carat rough diamond.

For now, these rough diamonds remain a largely undiscovered treasure.

Three of their diamonds are among the world's top twenty rough diamonds.

The participants include all major rough diamond producing, exporting and importing countries.

Rough diamonds under the control of the Liberian government would be exempt from the embargo.

The new rules are implemented in 75 countries, including all European nations, which account for 99.8 per cent of the world's rough diamonds.

The process of shaping a rough diamond into a polished gemstone is both an art and a science.

"This young man is a diamond in the rough who will make us all proud."

"Maybe we'll find a diamond in the rough, but we have no expectations at all."

"He may turn out to be a diamond in the rough.

Recruiting has become a science, but it's good to know there's always room for a diamond in the rough.

"It's a diamond in the rough and an important preservation area."

"I was a diamond in the rough who needed polishing."

Let's give the Eagles credit for finding this diamond in the rough.

He had been a diamond in the rough when they had met.

"It's a diamond in the rough for people like us who have these unusual requirements," she said.

We buy a diamond in the rough and transform it."

"It takes an eye to visualize something that may be a diamond in the rough," she said.

On other occasions, the empty areas seem to set off the rocks, as if they were diamonds in the rough.

But a singer who seems a diamond in the rough to one listener may sound just plain bad to another.

Nose around the writers' nights, and you're bound to find a diamond in the rough.

But we thought we had found a diamond in the rough."

Their first album was a "diamond in the rough".

The minute they showed it to us, we really felt like we had found a diamond in the rough.

I'm polished by years, you're still a diamond in the rough."

"We see it as a diamond in the rough, a turnaround opportunity people were missing.

This neighborhood bar-turned-gourmet restaurant was a diamond in the rough.

Although some visitors may see a struggling industrial town with no industry, others spy a diamond in the rough.

Maybe that engagement ring - the one he said prompted a newspaper to call him a diamond in the rough.

Before 1998, Buchanan describes himself as a "diamond in the rough" on teams that struggled.

"I've always thought of that whole waterfront as a sort of a diamond in the rough," he said.

Last week, during a tryout for 20 students, Smith was surprised to find a prospect, a diamond in the rough.