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Tough   /təf/   Listen
Tough

adjective
(compar. tougher; superl. toughest)
1.
Not given to gentleness or sentimentality.  Antonym: tender.
2.
Very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution.  Synonym: rugged.  "The rugged conditions of frontier life" , "The competition was tough" , "It's a tough life" , "It was a tough job"
3.
Physically toughened.  Synonym: toughened.  Antonym: tender.
4.
Substantially made or constructed.  Synonym: sturdy.  "Sturdy canvas" , "A tough all-weather fabric" , "Some plastics are as tough as metal"
5.
Violent and lawless.  Synonym: ruffianly.  "Tough street gangs"
6.
Feeling physical discomfort or pain ('tough' is occasionally used colloquially for 'bad').  Synonym: bad.  "She felt bad all over" , "He was feeling tough after a restless night"
7.
Resistant to cutting or chewing.  Antonym: tender.
8.
Unfortunate or hard to bear.  Synonym: hard.  "A tough break"
9.
Making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe.  Synonyms: baffling, elusive, knotty, problematic, problematical.  "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast" , "A problematic situation at home"
noun
1.
Someone who learned to fight in the streets rather than being formally trained in the sport of boxing.  Synonym: street fighter.
2.
An aggressive and violent young criminal.  Synonyms: goon, hood, hoodlum, punk, strong-armer, thug, toughie.
3.
A cruel and brutal fellow.  Synonyms: bully, hooligan, roughneck, rowdy, ruffian, yob, yobbo, yobo.



Related searches:
tough guy
tough luck
tough-minded
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toughness


WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University


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"Tough" Quotes from Famous Books



... young King hath about him no more true men than he needeth. And as I wait at his coucher, betimes I can drop a word in his ear that may, an' it please God, be to his profit. He is yet tender ground, and the seed may take root and thrive: and I am tough gnarled old root, that can thole a blow or twain, and a rough wind by now ...
— In Convent Walls - The Story of the Despensers • Emily Sarah Holt
... for their master gallantly, with their tough oaken staves; and the young man showed his patrician blood by his patrician courage in the fray. Flaccus, too, wished and endeavored to interpose, not so much that he cared to shield his unworthy kinsman, as that he sought to preserve the energies of the people for a more noble trial. ...
— The Roman Traitor (Vol. 2 of 2) • Henry William Herbert
... countenance could be the one for whom they were searching. At Queensferry the house still stands where he and Captain Hall were arrested. The brave Captain threw himself between Cargill and the officer. The struggle was a tough one; Hall was mortally wounded; Cargill, too, was much hurt but escaped. But this did not prevent him from keeping his engagement at a Conventicle; he preached in his wounds. Nothing but death seemed able to check this man of God in the work of the ...
— Sketches of the Covenanters • J. C. McFeeters
... off with his bag while he was eating," remarked Fred. "Rather tough luck if he had anything of real value ...
— The Rover Boys on a Hunt - or The Mysterious House in the Woods • Arthur M. Winfield (Edward Stratemeyer)
... to be tough, but I remember how we used to make steak tender at home by beating it before it was cooked. We might serve a thousand pounds or two of this bull in that manner. Besides, we want ...
— The Last of the Chiefs - A Story of the Great Sioux War • Joseph Altsheler


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