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:
Now, it’s a tough time to be a corn flake.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2026
It’s a tough time to be a P/E evangelist on social media.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
Business is tough enough without a pointless enforcement effort—especially one that doesn’t actually protect the people it purportedly serves.
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
I’m antsy times a million and sitting still is tough.
From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell
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
“Do your feet a favor,” he tells the toughs.
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 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
Farmers, artisans, laborers, and even dockside toughs fought back with more demonstrations, hangings in effigy, and rounds of angry speeches fortified with strong drink and stronger language.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
Cleopatra would cheer for Mark Antony as he scuffled good-naturedly with rowdy toughs.
From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay—Pope Leo XIV couldn’t have picked a tougher place to kick off his first Latin American tour.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
But Goldman Sachs strategists see another possibility: that companies might accelerate construction before tougher rules arrive.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 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
Thousands of Virgin Media O2 staff face redundancy risk as the telecoms firm looks to save money in the face of billions of pounds of debt and tougher competition.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
Worse, the terrain is becoming even tougher as we get closer and closer to the maze of boulders.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
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
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
Either way, McDonagh reasons that the guy who once judged his plays superior to others’ remains his own toughest critic: “When you set the bar for your arrogant self, it’s probably a lot higher.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
A little tern colony has experienced its toughest breeding season since establishing themselves at a site.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Soon they were breaking even the toughest codes and ciphers.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
