hard-boiled
Americanadjective
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Cooking. (of an egg) boiled in the shell long enough for the yolk and white to solidify.
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Informal. tough; unsentimental.
a hard-boiled vice-squad detective.
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marked by a direct, clear-headed approach; realistic.
a hard-boiled appraisal of the foreign situation.
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(of detective fiction) written in a laconic, dispassionate, often ironic style for a realistic, unsentimental effect.
adjective
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(of an egg) boiled until the yolk and white are solid
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informal
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tough, realistic
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cynical
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Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hard-boiled
1715–25; 1895–80 hard-boiled for def. 2; hard + boiled
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.
Perhaps you’ve heard of “car-cuterie”—a spread of cheeses, salumi, fresh fruit and hard-boiled eggs assembled entirely from convenience store shelves.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 6, 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
Their feast also consists of hard-boiled eggs, shrimp crackers, cup ramyeon, odeng-guk fish cake soup, sweet hotteok pancakes and naengmyeon, which is served in a stainless steel bowl.
From Salon • Jun. 27, 2025
She and the others stand in Collect Pond Park, sharing chocolates and hard-boiled eggs.
From Seattle Times • May 20, 2024
Juanita passed out the hard-boiled eggs, cheese, and tortillas.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
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.
