tough
Americanadjective
-
tougher,
comparative
-
toughest
superlative
-
strong and durable; not easily broken or cut.
- Antonyms:
- fragile
-
not brittle or tender.
-
difficult to masticate, as food.
a tough steak.
-
of viscous consistency, as liquid or semiliquid matter.
tough molasses.
-
capable of great endurance; sturdy; hardy.
tough troops.
- Synonyms:
- durable
-
not easily influenced, as a person; unyielding; stubborn.
a tough man to work for.
- Synonyms:
- inflexible
-
hardened; incorrigible.
a tough criminal.
-
difficult to perform, accomplish, or deal with; hard, trying, or troublesome.
a tough problem.
-
hard to bear or endure (often used ironically).
tough luck.
-
vigorous; severe; violent.
a tough struggle.
-
vicious; rough; rowdyish.
a tough character;
a tough neighborhood.
-
practical, realistic, and lacking in sentimentality; tough-minded.
-
Slang. remarkably excellent; first-rate; great.
adverb
noun
-
toughs
plural
idioms
-
hang tough, hang.
-
tough it out, to endure or resist hardship or adversity.
adjective
-
strong or resilient; durable
a tough material
-
not tender
he could not eat the tough steak
-
having a great capacity for endurance; hardy and fit
a tough mountaineer
-
rough or pugnacious
a tough gangster
-
resolute or intractable
a tough employer
-
difficult or troublesome to do or deal with
a tough problem
-
informal unfortunate or unlucky
it's tough on him
noun
adverb
-
informal violently, aggressively, or intractably
to treat someone tough
-
informal to be or appear to be strong or determined
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
toughnessnoun
-
untoughnessnoun
-
supertoughadjective
-
toughishadjective
-
untoughadjective
-
toughlyadverb
-
untoughlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of tough
First recorded before 900; Middle English (adjective); Old English tōh; compare Dutch taai, German zäh(e)
Explanation
The adjective tough is good for describing hard times. If you just got mugged, lost your job, got the flu, and broke your toe, you're having a really tough week. Tough means "strong, hard, unbending," and you can use it to describe many different things, like a tough exam, or a tough piece of beef jerky, or a tough day that you just want to be over. If a judge punishes criminals harshly to set examples, she's "tough on crime." We call people toughs if they seem likely to beat you up. Tough things are made to withstand a beating, like the tires on your mountain bike. Pronounce: TUFF.
Vocabulary lists containing tough
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.
See Examples For:
It’s a tough time to be a P/E evangelist on social media.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
Speaking of big saves, Anderson is particularly tough on penalty kicks, facing three this season without allowing a goal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
It’s a capability that Mercedes says could draw customers in an increasingly tough market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
Money doesn’t always win an election, but a big funding imbalance is tough to overcome, Schnur said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
Indeed, this was the poetic symmetry of shell-dwellers: They were tough on the outside to protect their soft innards.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
The entrepreneur, who for security reasons asked that neither he nor the specific nature of his business be identified, initially thought the calls were coming from neighborhood toughs pretending to have links to crime groups.
From Reuters ● Oct. 29, 2022
The hodgepodge of grievances brings to mind a scene from the 1953 movie “The Wild One,” about a gang of motorcycle toughs who invade a small California town.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2021
Mr. Williams was celebrated for delivering nuanced performances as swaggering street toughs, charming family men and smooth-talking gangsters.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 6, 2021
But it quickly becomes clear that Happy owes more to the rumpled Marlowe played by Elliott Gould in Robert Altman’s “The Long Goodbye” than to any hard-boiled toughs inhabited by Humphrey Bogart.
From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2021
At 8:30 p.m., a group of white toughs met up on a street corner.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
One was better-than-feared messaging from Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, who promised a tougher approach to data-center regulation while campaigning.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
French authorities have taken a tougher stance against extremist groups on both the left and the right in recent years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
But investors are increasingly concerned that tougher regulations will make it harder for AI firms to make money off their massive investments.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026
There have been tougher visa requirements for international students coming to UK universities in recent years.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
Wes was trying hard to wriggle free, but his stronger and tougher older brother was getting the best of him.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
Speaking in October, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius said the company would overhaul its China strategy, adding that giving up on the world's toughest but largest market was not an option.
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026
Zillow reported a decline in traffic to its apps and sites in the midst of what it called “one of the toughest housing markets in a generation.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
Two years later, momentum swung again, as the union helped persuade California Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr. to impose the toughest farm labor regulations in the nation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
From Batman masks to offline maps, young Indian protesters have responded to one of New Delhi's toughest security crackdowns with improvised tactics designed to evade surveillance and keep demonstrations alive.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
He could remember the toughest calculus formulas and had nearly perfect pitch as a musician, but he literally could not remember to put his pants on.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
