TOUGH • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Tough

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Tough

adjective

(compar. tougher; superl. toughest)

1.

Not given to gentleness or sentimentality.

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.

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.

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.

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WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Tough" Quotes from Famous Books

... and slit the tough fabric into strips, five lengths each, then tied the ends together, tightening the knots as well as she could. She had little idea of how far the improvised rope would reach, but it seemed fairly long when it was done. She began to think it would mean everything to get outside the ...

— Juggernaut • Alice Campbell

... are behind him; if he breaks the law up there in the North-west, he knows he's just got to be jailed for it, sure as he's alive. It may take a day, or it may take a year. It may cost the authorities a dollar, or it may cost 'em a million, and a life or two thrown in. But that tough is just going to be jailed, and he durned well knows it. That's what the R.N.W.M.P. means to the North-west; and you take it from me, it's a pretty big thing ...

— Jan - A Dog and a Romance • A. J. Dawson

... men hang follies unnumbered—this is the unachievable thing, to find what shall be best hap for a man both presently and also at the last. Yea for the very founder[1] of this country once on a time struck with his staff of tough wild-olive-wood Alkmene's bastard brother Likymnios in Tiryns as he came forth from Midea's chamber, and slew him in the kindling of his wrath. So even the wise man's feet are turned astray by tumult ...

— The Extant Odes of Pindar • Pindar

... answer) she had flung them into the roadway; but at the instant when she understood him she made a dart at them, gathered them all together in her hands, and sped to the brookside. There she lay at length upon the turf, and washed the blooms in the flowing water. Then she gathered long tough grasses, and looped them together until she had made a cord, with which she bound the waxen posy. Paul followed and sat near, languidly propped on one ...

— Despair's Last Journey • David Christie Murray

... eight acres, very rough, tough, and stony. He informed his young companions of his mother's conditional promise, and several of them readily agreed to help him. For the next two weeks the field presented the spectacle of a continuous "bee" ...

— Famous Americans of Recent Times • James Parton

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