From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrockyrock‧y /ˈrɒki $ ˈrɑːki/ ●○○ adjective 1 DNcovered with rocks or made of rock a rocky cliff They hurried over the rough rocky ground.2 informalDIFFICULT a relationship or situation that is rocky is difficult and may not continue or be successful Rangers got off to a rocky start this season. The company faces a rocky road ahead.
Examples from the Corpus
rocky• Once the land round it was worked, but no one these days would break his back over soil so rocky and barren.• We pass rocky beaches, secret inlets, muddy coves, dark hidden sea caves pounded by surf.• From Mount Ampenan, and over the rocky coastline and long golden beaches is a sight to behold.• The village sits on a rocky hill overlooking the Mediterranean.• The moon was so bright I could see a figure running flat out up into the rocky hills.• Now the rocky, irregular moonscape was all around us.• At the bottom end of the playing fields is a rocky outcrop.• On the wall behind him there was a picture of a stag lowering its antlers on a rocky promontory beneath puffy clouds.• I sat on the rocky slope above Gay Acres, not wanting to stain my white shorts on the grass.rocky ground• Boots are the only sensible footgear for this expedition, which in places traverses rough and rocky ground.• The seed falls on four different types of soil: the footpath, rocky ground, among thistles and on good soil.• Many gardening businesses have hit rocky ground but Waterers expects to increase turnover from £4.8m to £6m in the year to July.• On rocky ground the friction of rope over crests and round corners much reduces fall impacts.rocky road• Twelve years of mountaineering had prepared me well for the rocky road ahead-or so I hoped.RockyRocky ( 1976) the first of a series of films in which Sylvester Stallone appears as a determined boxer called Rocky. Four more films, called Rocky II, Rocky III etc, were made about the same character. 