Meanings
adjective
- Guided by practical experience and observation rather than by theory.
- idiomaticHardheaded, stubborn.
- Tough and relentlessly practical and thus not given to sentiment.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveguided by practical experience and observation rather than theory
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
hard + nosed; originally referred to hard-tipped bullets.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch halsstarrig, realistisch
- halsstarrigstubborn
- realistischpragmatic
French pragmatique
- pragmatiquepragmatic
German pragmatisch
- pragmatischpragmatic
Italian pragmatico
- pragmaticopragmatic
Japanese 抜け目ない, 頑固な
- 抜け目ないstubborn
- 頑固なstubborn
Māori taikaha, tūkaha
- taikahastubborn
- tūkahastubborn
Polish zawzięty, bezwzględny
- zawziętystubborn
- bezwzględnystubborn
- zdeterminowanystubborn
- praktycznypragmatic
- pragmatycznypragmatic
Portuguese teimoso, teimosa
- teimosostubborn
- teimosastubborn
- pragmáticopragmatic
Spanish pragmático
- pragmáticopragmatic
Cite this entry
APA
hard-nosed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hard-nosed
MLA
“hard-nosed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hard-nosed. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hard-nosed,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hard-nosed.
Source: hard-nosed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.