TOUGH

bad, tough

(adjective) feeling physical discomfort or pain (‘tough’ is occasionally used colloquially for ‘bad’); “my throat feels bad”; “she felt bad all over”; “he was feeling tough after a restless night”

sturdy, tough

(adjective) substantially made or constructed; “sturdy steel shelves”; “sturdy canvas”; “a tough all-weather fabric”; “some plastics are as tough as metal”

baffling, elusive, knotty, problematic, problematical, tough

(adjective) making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe; “a baffling problem”; “I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast”; “a problematic situation at home”

rugged, tough

(adjective) very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution; “a rugged competitive examination”; “the rugged conditions of frontier life”; “the competition was tough”; “it’s a tough life”; “it was a tough job”

hard, tough

(adjective) unfortunate or hard to bear; “had hard luck”; “a tough break”

tough

(adjective) resistant to cutting or chewing

tough, toughened

(adjective) physically toughened; “the tough bottoms of his feet”

tough

(adjective) not given to gentleness or sentimentality; “a tough character”

ruffianly, tough

(adjective) violent and lawless; “the more ruffianly element”; “tough street gangs”

bully, tough, hooligan, ruffian, roughneck, rowdy, yob, yobo, yobbo

(noun) a cruel and brutal fellow

hood, hoodlum, goon, punk, thug, tough, toughie, strong-armer

(noun) an aggressive and violent young criminal

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Adjective

tough (comparative tougher, superlative toughest)

Strong and resilient; sturdy.

(of food) Difficult to cut or chew.

Rugged or physically hardy.

Stubborn.

(of weather etc) Harsh or severe.

Rowdy or rough.

(of questions, etc.) Difficult or demanding.

(material science) Undergoing plastic deformation before breaking.

Interjection

tough

(slang) Used to indicate lack of sympathy

Noun

tough (plural toughs)

A person who obtains things by force; a thug or bully.

Verb

tough (third-person singular simple present toughs, present participle toughing, simple past and past participle toughed)

To endure.

To toughen.

Anagrams

• ought

Source: Wiktionary

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Tough, a. [Compar. Tougher; superl. Toughest.] Etym: [OE. tough, AS. toh, akin to D. taai, LG. taa, tage, tau, OHG. zahi, G. zähe, and also to AS. getenge near to, close to, oppressive, OS. bitengi.]

1. Having the quality of flexibility without brittleness; yielding to force without breaking; capable of resisting great strain; as, the ligaments of animals are remarkably tough. "Tough roots and stubs. " Milton.

2. Not easily broken; able to endure hardship; firm; strong; as, tough sinews. Cowper. A body made of brass, the crone demands, . . . Tough to the last, and with no toil to tire. Dryden. The basis of his character was caution combined with tough tenacity of purpose. J. A. Symonds.

3. Not easily separated; viscous; clammy; tenacious; as, tough phlegm.

4. Stiff; rigid; not flexible; stubborn; as, a tough bow. So tough a frame she could not bend. Dryden.

5. Severe; violent; as, a tough storm. [Colloq.] " A tough debate. " Fuller. To make it tough, to make it a matter of difficulty; to make it a hard matter. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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