tough

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“
It is really ghapsignaphthing ( 'fascinating': gh as in tough, ti as in nation, gn as in gnaw, phth as in phthisic) to me.

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Definitions (36)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (12)

  1. adjective Able to withstand great strain without tearing or breaking; strong and resilient: a tough all-weather fabric.
  2. adjective Hard to cut or chew: tough meat.
  3. adjective Physically hardy; rugged: tough mountaineers; a tough cop.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (10)

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Examples

  • It is hard work for what Watts calls a tough, and such a man, to understand and admire one another.” —  The Honorable Peter Stirling and What People Thought of Him
  • It is really ghapsignaphthing ( 'fascinating': gh as in tough, ti as in nation, gn as in gnaw, phth as in phthisic) to me. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VII No 4
  • He was what we call a tough guy, "Patterson told the black congregation," but the toughest thing about that Marine was that when he knew he was going to die, he prayed not for himself, but for his young wife, that God would comfort her. —  The Bear and the Dragon
  • TONY RANDALL: Well, it's tough -- to an actor, what's tough is the length of the part. —  CNN Transcript Jan 21, 2005
  • We'll keep that picture up, show it to our viewers to make sure we don't miss the start when Patrick Fitzgerald, often described as a tough-as-nails prosecutor, walks in. —  CNN Transcript Oct 28, 2005
 

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Tough has been looked up 289 times, favorited 0 times, listed 10 times, and commented on once.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

rough ·  nice ·  difficult ·  smart ·  ugly
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English tōh.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly spelled also tuff; from Middle English tough, towgh, tou, toʒ, from Anglo-Saxon tōh =Middle Dutch taey, Dutch taai =Middle Low German tā. taie, tege, teie, Low German taa, taë taag, tage =Old High German zāhi Middle High German zæhe, German zähe, zäh, G. dial, zach, tough. For the noun use, cf. equivalent rough, associated with rough, a., but prob. a sophisticated form of ruff for ruffian.
 

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/təf/
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