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

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Etymology

Origin of hard-boiled

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hard-boiled

Capra achieved many of his greatest successes in the employ of Columbia Pictures studio head Harry Cohn, a profane, hard-boiled character who operated by instinct and ruled by fear.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026

"Everything I want done, I want done yesterday," she said in a recent interview on the campaign trail, where she reputedly refuelled by peeling hard-boiled eggs.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

But wait, as our hard-boiled citizen investigator is fond of saying.

From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026

The Continental Op, the nameless sleuth in Dashiell Hammett’s “Red Harvest,” introduced the country to a hard-boiled aesthetic that would define much of the American crime genre.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

Inside it were leftovers from somebody’s lunch: a deviled ham sandwich, a piece of Swiss cheese, part of a hard-boiled egg, and the core of a wormy apple.

From "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White

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