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• hardy
  hardy

  adjective

  capable of enduring fatigue, hardship, exposure, etc.; sturdy; strong.
• Hardy
  Hardy

  noun

  Godfrey Harold, 1877–1947, English mathematician.

hardy

¹ American  

[hahr-dee] / ˈhɑr di /

adjective

• hardier,
  comparative
• hardiest
  superlative

1. capable of enduring fatigue, hardship, exposure, etc.; sturdy; strong.

   hardy explorers of northern Canada.

   Synonyms:

   sound, stout, hale, robust, vigorous

   Antonyms:

   weak

2. (of plants) able to withstand the cold of winter in the open air.

3. requiring great physical courage, vigor, or endurance.

   the hardiest sports.

4. bold or daring; courageous.

   hardy soldiers.

   Synonyms:

   brave, resolute, intrepid

   Antonyms:

   timid

5. unduly bold; presumptuous; foolhardy.

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hardy ² American  

[hahr-dee] / ˈhɑr di /

noun

• hardies
  plural

1. a chisel or fuller with a square shank for insertion into a square hole hardy hole in a blacksmith's anvil.

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Hardy ³ American  

[hahr-dee] / ˈhɑr di /

noun

1. Godfrey Harold, 1877–1947, English mathematician.

2. Oliver, 1892–1957, U.S. motion-picture comedian.

3. Thomas, 1840–1928, English novelist and poet.

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hardy ¹ British  

/ ˈhɑːdɪ /

adjective

1. having or demanding a tough constitution; robust

2. bold; courageous

3. foolhardy; rash

4. (of plants) able to live out of doors throughout the winter

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Hardy ² British  

/ ˈhɑːdɪ /

noun

1. Oliver. See Laurel and Hardy

2. Thomas. 1840–1928, British novelist and poet. Most of his novels are set in his native Dorset (part of his fictional Wessex) and include Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895), after which his work consisted chiefly of verse

3. Sir Thomas Masterman. 1769–1839, British naval officer, flag captain under Nelson (1799–1805): 1st Sea Lord (1830)

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hardy ³ British  

/ ˈhɑːdɪ /

noun

1. any blacksmith's tool made with a square shank so that it can be lodged in a square hole in an anvil

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hardies
  plural

Adjectives

• hardier
  comparative
• hardiest
  superlative

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Etymology

Origin of hardy¹

1175–1225; Middle English hardi < Old French, past participle of *hardir to harden, make brave < Germanic; compare Gothic -hardjan, Old High German hartjan to harden

Origin of hardy²

First recorded in 1865–70; hard + -y ²

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Explanation

Hardy means tough––if you're hardy, you don't get tired easily and can endure hardship. People who don't catch cold often attribute this fact to their coming from hardy farming stock. Before 1200, hardy indicated boldness and daring in battle and was probably influenced by hard. Warriors are hardy: they’re brave and strong and don’t easily tire. Plants and animals can also be hardy if they can survive harsh weather or poor growing conditions. When planting a lawn, you should pick hardy species of grass, which will survive droughts and come back after long, cold winters.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hardy Hardy hardies hardier hardiest

This remote stretch of the Australian outback is an important grazing area for sheep and cattle, with a landscape typically dominated by hardy plants adapted to limited rainfall.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

A rotting carpet of familiar fan-shaped leaves soon surrounded the tree, a sight so alarming Jung and her neighbours formed a crew of amateur detectives to solve the mystery: what was ailing their hardy ginkgo?

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

The hardy souls who join Garry in his more outlandish acts—and seem to have a fine time doing so—deserve some souvenir to show the grandkids their brief moment of theatrical fame, or infamy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

And then, even after the departure of many hardy attendees who had made it through the whole event, he remained.

From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026

First he would do his exercises and run around the ouse, oblivious to the taunts of the hardy peasants looking on.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

It was possible to get a degree without having read a page of Charles Dickens, George Eliot or Thomas Hardy, but not without having studied the 14th-century poem “Piers Plowman.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

The second season of the series, which co-stars Tom Hardy and is co-directed by Guy Ritchie, premiered in September.

From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026

When asked whether Kessler’s return would spark extra motivation for the Jazz, Utah coach Will Hardy dispelled any suggestions of revenge.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2026

By last summer, Afram was preparing to start shooting “Fortitude” in September and told colleagues he believed DiCaprio or Tom Hardy would act in the film.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

Chet was Iola’s brother and one of the Hardy brothers’ best friends.

From "Mystery Map (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #3)" by Franklin W. Dixon

I asked Jennings to show me some of his favorite hardies.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 29, 2021

Softies and hardies have been fighting for as long as I can remember.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 4, 2013

Tulips bloom in February and March; Daffodils, German Iris, and other hardies from February to May; also Lilies-of-the-Valley, which latter are more scarce on account of the dryness of the atmosphere.

From Beautiful Gardens in America by Louise Shelton

Eventually, the noise came back, and the national sense of shared shock and grief morphed into something uglier, hardier, and less focused.

From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026

Cartoonish horseplay would have gotten a hardier laugh.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2025

These conditions led to slow-growing tall trees with deeper rooting systems able to access the water, making them hardier in the face of drought, Chen said.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2024

Ninety-five percent of the beans grown in Vietnam are of the robusta variety; as its name implies, the plant is hardier, and it grows better in the country’s climate.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 26, 2024

There were miles of pastures and tens of miles of wasted, washed-out land abandoned to the hardier weeds.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Frigid air blows in from the north, blast-freezing the city's lakes and rivers and only the hardiest souls would dare to plunge into the icy water.

From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2026

Those who travel during the holidays are used to long trips, but only the hardiest would try a 1,900-mile van ride.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 25, 2024

Indeed, pesticides had been so effective at killing all but the hardiest of bed bugs that some Americans were surprised when they returned, starting in the early 2000s.

From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2024

Only the hardiest surfers can truly spend all day in the water, so part of Westport’s appeal is its surf-town feel.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 28, 2023

But about the Gate resistance still was stout, and there the knights of Dol Amroth and the hardiest of the garrison stood at bay.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

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