tough

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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)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (12)

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Examples (50)

  • All look really tough, which is surprising for ITV, in fact the only part of dumbing down I can see was in the last round whereby wrong answers lost you one point, rather than two. —  The Gospel According To Rhys
  • Palo Alto is bracing for a tough, angry and uphill fight to keep the tunneling option on the table for a proposed high-speed rail system through the Peninsula
  • Stinson is known as a tough coach, those who know him say he was always looking out for his kids.
  • To Peters, taking a punch in a hockey game is one thing, but being bitten during a skirmish breaks what's known as the tough-guy code in the NHL. —  Latest Headlines - ABC 7 News
  • February 23, 2009 08: 00: 35 by Christine Navratil Simon Cowell is known as the tough, hard to get along with judge on —  Reality TV Magazine
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This word has been looked up 161 times.

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Related

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

Used in the same contextWord Family

tough:   tougher ·  toughest ·  toughs
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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