strong and healthy; hardy; vigorous: a robust young man; a robust faith; a robust mind.
strongly or stoutly built: his robust frame.
suited to or requiring bodily strength or endurance: robust exercise.
rough, rude, or boisterous: robust drinkers and dancers.
rich and full-bodied: the robust flavor of freshly brewed coffee.
strong and effective in all or most situations and conditions: The system requires robust passwords that contain at least one number or symbol.Our goal is to devise robust statistical methods.
Origin of robust
1540–50; < Latinrōbustus oaken, hard, strong, equivalent to rōbus-, stem of rōbur oak, strength + -tus adj. suffix
Related formsro·bust·ly, adverbro·bust·ness, nounun·ro·bust, adjectiveun·ro·bust·ly, adverbun·ro·bust·ness, noun
1540s, from Middle French robuste (14c.) and directly from Latin robustus "strong and hardy," literally "as strong as oak," originally "oaken," from robur, robus "hard timber, strength," also "a special kind of oak," named for its reddish heartwood, from Latin ruber "red" (cf. robigo "rust"), from PIE *reudh- (see red (adj.1)). Related: Robustly; robustness. Robustious (1540s) was a common form in 17c. (cf. "Hamlet" iii.2); it fell from use by mid-18c., but was somewhat revived by mid-19c. antiquarian writers.
