hard-nosed
or hard·nosed
[hahrd-nohzd]
- hardheaded or tough; unsentimentally practical: a hard-nosed labor leader.
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Origin of hard-nosed
First recorded in 1885–90
Synonyms
See more synonyms for hard-nosed on Thesaurus.comrealistic, down-to-earth; intractable, rigid, stubborn, inflexible.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for hard-nosed
Contemporary Examples
Normally an air accident investigation would involve a swarm of hard-nosed engineers and scientists poring over wreckage.
Hard-nosed criticism is squeezed out by soft stories, gossip and fluff.
“Politics is a hard-nosed game, and the right has been playing Marquess of Queensbury Rules for a long time on this,” he said.
Documents released by the British archives reveal Thatcher as a hard-nosed opponent of Israel's West Bank settlement project.
To me this would demonstrate a hard-nosed determination that all citizens should find frightening.
hard-nosed
- informal tough, shrewd, and practical
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for hard-nosed
adj.
"stubborn," 1927, from hard + nose (n.). Earlier of bullets or shells with hard tips, and of dogs that had difficulty following a scent. Not in common use before 1950s, when it begins to be used of tough or relentless characters generally (Damon Runyon characters, U.S. Marines, Princeton professors, etc.). Soft-nosed seems to have been used only of bullets.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper