hard as nails

1. Unyielding, callous, unsympathetic, as in Don't ask her for a contribution—she's hard as nails. This expression has replaced the 14th-century simile hard as flint stone and presumably alludes to the rigidity of nails.

Example Sentences

It was that he had all the best qualities you’d want in somebody; his heart of gold, and then you couple that with him just being hard as nails and tough, no quit ever.

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But next comes an admission, from this professionally tough politician, described to me by one of her colleagues once as 'hard as nails', that when things get personal, she doesn't like it.

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While a friend has described her as politically "as hard as nails", Reeves' time in Westminster has not been without controversy.

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But one of her friends says politically she is "hard as nails".

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He remembers inviting a group of heterosexual friends to watch a match in Ilkley and them asking which of the players were gay because they were "hard as nails".

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Related Words

• decisive 
• dogged 
• purposeful 
• resolute 
• resolved 
• serious 
• single-minded 
• steadfast 
• strong-willed 
• stubborn 
• tenacious