tough

comparative tougher · superlative toughest · alternative pronunciation spelling tuff

1. Of a material, strong and resilient; sturdy.

   The tent, made of tough canvas, held up to many abuses.

   Synonyms: robust, stout, adamantine, concrete, firm, granitic, grim, hard

2. Of food, difficult to cut or chew.

   To soften a tough cut of meat, the recipe suggested simmering it for hours.

   Synonyms: unchewable

3. figurativelyOf a person or animal, rugged or physically hardy.

   Only a tough species will survive in the desert.

   1 more example

   But before you quit turkey hunting and take up model-train collecting, let me give you the good news: you can score on tough turkeys. In fact, you can kill the toughest turkey in the woods.

   2010, Brian Lovett, Hunting Tough Turkeys, Stackpole Books, page 3

   Synonyms: hardy, robust, vigorous

4. figurativelyOf a person, stubborn or persistent; capable of stubbornness or persistence.

   He had a reputation as a tough negotiator.

   Synonyms: hardheaded, tenacious, adamant, ardent, grim, untiring, bent on, bloody-minded

5. informalclimatologyOf weather, harsh or severe.

   Synonyms: inclement

6. figurativelyRowdy or rough.

   A bunch of the tough boys from the wrong side of the tracks threatened him.

   Synonyms: disorderly, unruly

7. datedslangCool, awesome, great.

   They played a Beatle interview album on WBZ Boston radio. Real tough!

   1965 January 12, Lou Sullivan, Diary

8. figurativelyinformalOf a question, difficult or demanding.

   This is a tough crowd.

   3 more examples

   1998, Lois Liederman Davitz, Joel Robert Davitz, 20 Tough Questions Teenagers Ask and 20 Tough Answers, Paulist Press, pages 6-7, But let's get back to the tough question about sex before marriage. And this is a tough question. In fact we would rank the question you've both raised as pretty high on our list of tough questions.

   Anderson: We fought hard to get here. But now the toughest part of our mission begins. Anderson: We've got to drive right through the heart of Reaper-controlled territory, break past their defenses, and get to that beacon.

   2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Earth

   2010, Rushworth M. Kidder, Good Kids, Tough Choices, Wiley (Jossey-Bass), page 96, What Lara faced, in fact, falls right into the pool of light beneath our second lens: making tough choices.

   Synonyms: challenging, hard, arduous, challenging, nasty, difficult, sticky, effortful

9. materialscienceUndergoing plastic deformation before breaking.
10. figurativelyinformalStrict, not lenient.

    tough on crime

    1 more example

    President Joe Biden is embracing tougher border measures, including shutting down the US-Mexico border, marking a stark shift from his early days in office as he tries to fend off former President Donald Trump’s attacks on immigration policy ahead of the election.

    2024 January 27, Priscilla Alvarez, “Biden seizes on tougher border measures as he tries to fend off Trump attacks”, in CNN

    Synonyms: harsh, strict, brutal, callous, cold, insensate, hardhanded, cold-eyed

alternative pronunciation spelling tuff

1. slangUsed to indicate lack of sympathy

   If you don't like it, tough!

   1 more example

   No one ever came to me and told me they didn't like the song, but people had mentioned stuff to other members of the band, who, surprisingly enough, stuck up for me. They were straight but they said, you know, tough. He's our singer, and we like his music.

   1986, Bernard Brannner, quoting Blackberri, “Blackberri: Singing for Our Lives”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 176

plural toughs · alternative pronunciation spelling tuff

1. A person who obtains things by force; a thug or bully.

   They were doing fine until they encountered a bunch of toughs from the opposition.

   2 more examples

   One of his best stories was "Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life" (1914), of which there survives only an amusing still, showing poor Mabel Normand chained to the rails by two toughs, the moustached villain threatening her with a sledge-hammer, and an awful sense of that inexorably approaching express!

   1958 February 28, David Gunston, “Railways on the Screen”, in Railway Magazine, page 87

   He was in his early fifties, extensively tattooed, just the sort of tough I wouldn't want to meet alone in a parking lot at night, but right then he was whimpering.

   2018, Sandeep Jauhar, Heart: a History, →ISBN, page 54

present singular third person toughs · participle present toughing · participle past toughed · past toughed · alternative pronunciation spelling tuff

1. To endure.

   “No,” said Minott, “I've toughed it through the winter, and i want to stay and hear the bluebirds once more.

   2011, Henry David Thoreau, Damion Searls, The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837-1861, →ISBN, page 254

   2 more examples

   We shall reminisce on how we toughed it through the winters as they reached the firm, long arm around to give the cold embrace, with ardor seldom loosed till warm winds Marched or Apriled in to soften winter's knuckles -- send rivulets of courage down to dandelions and tulips.

   2009, Paul Walsh, You and I and Others, →ISBN, pages 64 - 65

   Universal Plant Edibility Test The following sounds like a lot of work—it is!—but that's because it comes from the US Army Survival Manual as republished in 1994 as "a civilian's best guide for toughing it, anyplace in the world...a must for campers, hikers, explorers, pilots, and others whose vocation or avocations require familiarity with the wilderness or out-of-doors..."

   2012, Jerry Hopkins -, Extreme Cuisine: The Weird and Wonderful Foods That People Eat, →ISBN

2. To toughen.

1. A surname.