tough
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /tʌf/
ipa: /tɐf/
ipa: /tʊf/
rhymes: -ʌf
homophone: tuff
Forms: form: tougher
form: toughest
Etymology: From Middle English tough, towgh, tou, toȝ, from Old English tōh (“tough, tenacious, holding fast together; pliant; sticky, glutinous, clammy”), from Proto-West Germanic *tą̄h(ī), from Proto-Germanic *tanhuz (“fitting; clinging; tenacious; tough”), from Proto-Indo-European *denḱ- (“to bite”).
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian toai (“tough, strong”), Bavarian zaach, zach (“tough, tenacious, dogged”), Dutch taai (“tough, resilient”), German zäh, zähe (“tough, tenacious, dogged”), Luxembourgish zéi (“tough, rugged, hardy”).
Senses: examples: text: The tent, made of tough canvas, held up to many abuses.
synonyms: word: robust
word: stout
word: adamantine
word: concrete
word: firm
word: granitic
word: grim
word: hard
word: inflexible
word: lithic
word: resistant
word: rigid
word: robust
word: solid
word: stiff
word: stout
word: sturdy
word: stony
word: tough
word: unbending
word: unyielding
glosses: Strong and resilient; sturdy.
raw_tags: of a material
examples: text: To soften a tough cut of meat, the recipe suggested simmering it for hours.
synonyms: unchewable
glosses: Difficult to cut or chew.
raw_tags: of food
examples: text: Only a tough species will survive in the desert.
text: But before you quit turkey hunting and take up model-train collecting, let me give you the good news: you can score on tough turkeys. In fact, you can kill the toughest turkey in the woods.
ref: 2010, Brian Lovett, Hunting Tough Turkeys, Stackpole Books, page 3:
synonyms: hardy
robust
vigorous
glosses: Rugged or physically hardy.
raw_tags: of a person or animal
examples: text: He had a reputation as a tough negotiator.
synonyms: word: hardheaded
word: tenacious
word: adamant
word: ardent
word: bent on
word: bloody-minded
word: bullheaded
word: certain
word: chronic
word: confirmed
word: determined
word: diehard
word: dogged
word: hard-hearted
word: hard-nosed
word: hardheaded
word: headstrong
word: immovable
word: incalcitrant
word: inflexible
word: irrefragable
word: insistent
word: intractable
word: intransigent
word: intrepid
word: inveterate
word: mulish
word: obdurate
word: obstinate
word: obstreperous
word: peevish
word: peremptory
word: persistent
word: pertinacious
word: pigheaded
word: recalcitrant
word: refractory
word: resolute
word: resolved
word: rigid
word: self-willed
word: stalwart
word: staunch
word: steadfast
word: steady
word: stubborn
word: stubborn as a mule
word: sullen
word: tenacious
word: terminal
word: thran
word: thwart
word: tough
word: truculent
word: unbending
word: uncompromising
word: unyielding
word: vehement
word: wilful
word: willful
glosses: Stubborn or persistent; capable of stubbornness or persistence.
raw_tags: of a person
synonyms: inclement
glosses: Harsh or severe.
raw_tags: of weather
examples: text: A bunch of the tough boys from the wrong side of the tracks threatened him.
synonyms: disorderly
unruly
glosses: Rowdy or rough.
examples: text: This is a tough crowd.
text: 1998, Lois Liederman Davitz, Joel Robert Davitz, 20 Tough Questions Teenagers Ask and 20 Tough Answers, Paulist Press, pages 6-7,
But let's get back to the tough question about sex before marriage. And this is a tough question. In fact we would rank the question you've both raised as pretty high on our list of tough questions.
text: Anderson: We fought hard to get here. But now the toughest part of our mission begins.
Anderson: We've got to drive right through the heart of Reaper-controlled territory, break past their defenses, and get to that beacon.
ref: 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Earth:
text: 2010, Rushworth M. Kidder, Good Kids, Tough Choices, Wiley (Jossey-Bass), page 96,
What Lara faced, in fact, falls right into the pool of light beneath our second lens: making tough choices.
synonyms: word: challenging
word: hard
word: arduous
word: challenging
word: nasty
word: difficult
word: effortful
word: hard
word: rocky
word: thistly
word: tough
word: uneath
word: unsimple
glosses: Difficult or demanding.
raw_tags: of questions
topics: science
sciences
glosses: Undergoing plastic deformation before breaking.
examples: text: tough on crime
text: President Joe Biden is embracing tougher border measures, including shutting down the US-Mexico border, marking a stark shift from his early days in office as he tries to fend off former President Donald Trump’s attacks on immigration policy ahead of the election.
ref: 2024 January 27, Priscilla Alvarez, “Biden seizes on tougher border measures as he tries to fend off Trump attacks”, in CNN:
synonyms: word: harsh
word: strict
word: callous
word: cold
word: cold-eyed
word: dour
word: flint-hearted
word: forbidding
word: frosty
word: grim
word: hard
word: hard-boiled
word: hardened
word: hardhearted
word: heartless
word: harsh
word: humorless
word: icy
word: iron-hearted
word: insensitive
word: rigorous
word: rockhearted
word: severe
word: stern
word: stonehearted
word: stony
word: stonyhearted
word: strict
word: tough
word: unsympathetic
word: unmoved
glosses: Strict, not lenient.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: do it tough
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: hang tough
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: semitough
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: supertough
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough act to follow
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough ask
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough as nails
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough as old boots
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough as teak
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough bananas
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough break
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough-cake
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough call
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough case
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough cookie
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough cookies
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough crowd
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: toughen
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough going
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough guy
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough-guy
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough-guyness
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: toughie
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: toughish
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough love
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough-love
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough luck
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: toughly
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough-minded
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: toughness
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough noogies
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough nut
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough nut to crack
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough on crime
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough pill to swallow
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough-pitch
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough road to hoe
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough row to hoe
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough sell
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough shit
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough-skinned
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough sledding
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough tacos
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough tarts
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough times
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough titties
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough titty
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough titty said the kitty
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough toenails
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough toodles
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough tooshie
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough tuchus
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: tough tushie
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: toughy
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: ultratough
sense: Terms derived from tough (adjective)
word: when the going gets tough, the tough get going