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
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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:
After the disastrous Battle of Long Island in August, Washington faced a tough decision: defend New York, burn it to keep it out of British hands or simply retreat?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Lamb, blunt as always, makes a good point: It has been a tough slog for Lowden’s MI5 agent-in-exile.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
He says he wants to "rescue" Brazil, promising to be tough on crime and prioritize fiscal responsibility.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
This is because the amount of cartilage, a tough but flexible kind of connective tissue, and fluid in your joints decreases over time.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
Him he carved in tough wood, fiercely gnawing the forms out with his teeth.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
He’s a guy that toughs it out with a smile on his face, and that smile is very disarming to someone else.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2023
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
I brought a retired Chicago cop, an Irish bachelor farmer and some shambolic street toughs with me on my recent vacation to Portugal.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 31, 2022
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
The GRA, which supports rank and file police officers, would support tougher legislation, including harsher sentences and driving bans for people caught engaging in dangerous behaviour on the roads, she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
He has also warned that "the time to get tougher" will be if the countries fail to reach a deal.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Worthiness is a tougher bar to clear than being chosen for greatness.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
“Without a resolution fairly soon, we’re headed toward some higher prices and tougher times for everybody.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Higher tuition, lower ranking, tougher admission requirements: these do not make for an easy marketing pitch to alumni clubs around the country.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
“Under his tenure, the commission staff has worked rigorously to enforce the toughest local ethics laws in the nation, including a gift ban and restrictions on lobbyists.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
These battles leave even the toughest environmental advocates within governments bruised.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
“Rocket reached record levels of purchase and refinance market share in one of the toughest spring housing markets in years, while delivering our most profitable quarter in four years,” said Chief Executive Varun Krishna.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
A value above 1400 HV places the resulting carbide among the toughest materials commonly used in industry, below superhard substances such as sapphire and diamond.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
I knew they would be our toughest opponents of the day, not only because they were strong opponents but because the referees seemed to love them.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
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.
