hard-boiled

American  

[hahrd-boild] / ˈhɑrdˈbɔɪld /

adjective

1. Cooking. (of an egg) boiled in the shell long enough for the yolk and white to solidify.

2. Informal. tough; unsentimental.

   a hard-boiled vice-squad detective.

3. marked by a direct, clear-headed approach; realistic.

   a hard-boiled appraisal of the foreign situation.

4. (of detective fiction) written in a laconic, dispassionate, often ironic style for a realistic, unsentimental effect.

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hard-boiled British  

adjective

1. (of an egg) boiled until the yolk and white are solid

2. informal

   1. tough, realistic

   2. cynical

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Other Word Forms

• hard-boiledness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of hard-boiled

1715–25; 1895–80 hard-boiled for def. 2; hard + boiled

Example Sentences

Clutton-Brock has joked that his most important discovery was meerkats’ fondness for hard-boiled egg.

From Slate • May 10, 2026

Ms. Medina, playing the flustered, overtaxed Tiphaine, is terrific, as is Ms. Arné, whose Lucie has to toggle from hard-boiled detective to strategy-free investigator.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026

They added that while historically, visitors "turned up with hard-boiled eggs, more recently these are often switched for chocolate eggs to be rolled down the hill".

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

For my daughter’s sake, I never left our hotel or Airbnb without a full water bottle and a hard-boiled egg or two from the breakfast buffet.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 10, 2025

Mr. Spencer added, “Yeah, but remember last summer when it got so hot we had to feed the chickens ice water to keep them from laying hard-boiled eggs?”

From "Stella by Starlight" by Sharon M. Draper

Related Words

• hard-nosed