toughie
Americannoun
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a tough person, especially one who is belligerent.
The sheriff was a local toughie with very little patience for outsiders.
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a difficult problem or situation.
That math test was a real toughie!
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a harsh or blunt book, movie, etc.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of toughie
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.
Quiz five out of five and this one is a toughie.
From BBC • Dec. 25, 2024
Cardellini: Yeah, that line was a — that was a toughie.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 15, 2023
When asked about Judy Garland, he’d say, “I thought she was going to be a toughie, but she wasn’t.”
From The New Yorker • Jul. 11, 2018
When one member, Kevin Kusinitz, 54, played the toughie, he said stuttering in public caused him “frustration and a little bit of self-loathing.”
From New York Times • Mar. 3, 2011
“I knew you were an old toughie the minute I saw you.”
From "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
