tough-love

verb

To practice tough love; to treat someone with compassion but applying stringent discipline in order to improve their behavior.

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Meanings

verbtough-love (third-person singular simple present tough-loves, present participle tough-loving, simple past and past participle tough-loved)

present singular third person tough-loves · participle present tough-loving · participle past tough-loved · past tough-loved

  1. informaltransitiveTo practice tough love; to treat someone with compassion but applying stringent discipline in order to improve their behavior.

    He must be tough-loved by the Church.

    2002, John Cantwell Kiley, The Breakaway Pope, page 41
    3 more examples

    The system's got some of our finest men being tough-loved to death!

    1999, Estella Conwill Majozo, Come Out the Wilderness: Memoir of a Black Woman Artist, page 239

    In time, the counselors at the program tough-loved me into acknowledging that I was using my disabilities as an excuse to drink and drug.

    2000, Malinda Teel, Fortitude: True Stories of True Grit, page 87

    He tough-loved the hell out of me without ever knowing what tough love meant.

    2004, Thomas Henderson, Frank Luksa, In Control: The Rebirth of an NFL Legend, page 87
Cite this entry
APA

tough-love. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tough-love

MLA

“tough-love.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tough-love. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tough-love,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tough-love.

Source: tough-love on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.