tough
Americanadjective
-
tougher,
comparative
-
toughest
superlative
-
strong and durable; not easily broken or cut.
- Antonyms:
- fragile
-
not brittle or tender.
-
difficult to masticate, as food.
a tough steak.
-
of viscous consistency, as liquid or semiliquid matter.
tough molasses.
-
capable of great endurance; sturdy; hardy.
tough troops.
- Synonyms:
- durable
-
not easily influenced, as a person; unyielding; stubborn.
a tough man to work for.
- Synonyms:
- inflexible
-
hardened; incorrigible.
a tough criminal.
-
difficult to perform, accomplish, or deal with; hard, trying, or troublesome.
a tough problem.
-
hard to bear or endure (often used ironically).
tough luck.
-
vigorous; severe; violent.
a tough struggle.
-
vicious; rough; rowdyish.
a tough character;
a tough neighborhood.
-
practical, realistic, and lacking in sentimentality; tough-minded.
-
Slang. remarkably excellent; first-rate; great.
adverb
noun
-
toughs
plural
idioms
-
hang tough, hang.
-
tough it out, to endure or resist hardship or adversity.
adjective
-
strong or resilient; durable
a tough material
-
not tender
he could not eat the tough steak
-
having a great capacity for endurance; hardy and fit
a tough mountaineer
-
rough or pugnacious
a tough gangster
-
resolute or intractable
a tough employer
-
difficult or troublesome to do or deal with
a tough problem
-
informal unfortunate or unlucky
it's tough on him
noun
adverb
-
informal violently, aggressively, or intractably
to treat someone tough
-
informal to be or appear to be strong or determined
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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toughnessnoun
-
untoughnessnoun
-
supertoughadjective
-
toughishadjective
-
untoughadjective
-
toughlyadverb
-
untoughlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of tough
First recorded before 900; Middle English (adjective); Old English tōh; compare Dutch taai, German zäh(e)
Explanation
The adjective tough is good for describing hard times. If you just got mugged, lost your job, got the flu, and broke your toe, you're having a really tough week. Tough means "strong, hard, unbending," and you can use it to describe many different things, like a tough exam, or a tough piece of beef jerky, or a tough day that you just want to be over. If a judge punishes criminals harshly to set examples, she's "tough on crime." We call people toughs if they seem likely to beat you up. Tough things are made to withstand a beating, like the tires on your mountain bike. Pronounce: TUFF.
Vocabulary lists containing tough
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Despite Russia making life in Kyiv increasingly tough, Gorlachov said he "wasn't going anywhere".
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
She says her industry - marketing - is really tough right now, and she doesn't know of any Gen Z candidates who would risk turning up to an interview with an iced coffee.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Yields are down a bit, oil prices are retreating and stock futures are rising to end what has been a tough week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
“We’ve had two tough years of injuries, and I’m not trying to blame anything on that,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
She’d lived a tough life but still trusted people, somehow.
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
“Do your feet a favor,” he tells the toughs.
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2023
The entrepreneur, who for security reasons asked that neither he nor the specific nature of his business be identified, initially thought the calls were coming from neighborhood toughs pretending to have links to crime groups.
From Reuters ● Oct. 29, 2022
The hodgepodge of grievances brings to mind a scene from the 1953 movie “The Wild One,” about a gang of motorcycle toughs who invade a small California town.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2021
There’s nothing zany about “Harlem Shuffle,” but Whitehead has cast this novel with toughs like Chet the Vet, who flashes gold canines, and Miami Joe, who wears a high-waisted purple suit.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 13, 2021
The officers turned around and saw the toughs moving toward their group of six.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
Two things are different today: France would be a much tougher problem to solve with its €3.5 trillion in debt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Airlines, U.S. airlines included, are staring at tougher decisions ahead, said George Ferguson, global head of aerospace, defense and airline research at Bloomberg Intelligence.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
“I guess … I have a tougher head. So then he started complaining and all that. He was saying, ‘You headbutted me, you’re cheating.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
The Culture Secretary has said tougher action is needed on 'doxxing'
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Baird conceded, though, that because of the toxicology issues, this one may be tougher than the one with the driver and the bad brakes.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Kwame Onwuachi is behind Tatiana, one of New York’s toughest reservations, but at home he reaches for the Top Ramen he grew up eating.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Now he’ll miss at least one game — and almost certainly more — at a time when the Trojans are about to enter the toughest stretch of their schedule.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
He battled Muhammad Ali in 1966 and 1972, and though Chuvalo lost both fights, Ali called him the toughest guy he ever fought.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
However, the AI race and China's advances in the field create "the toughest dilemma" regarding whether or not to slow down AI development, he noted on CBS on Sunday.
From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026
My boss there was one of the toughest guys I ever hope to meet.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
