tough

Adjective

tough (comparative tougher, superlative toughest)

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, inflexible, lithic

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. (figuratively) Of a person or animal, rugged or physically hardy.
   • Only a tough species will survive in the desert.
   • 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. (figuratively) Of 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, bullheaded, certain

5. (informal) Of weather, harsh or severe.

   Synonyms:

   inclement

6. (figuratively) Rowdy or rough.
   • A bunch of the tough boys from the wrong side of the tracks threatened him.

   Synonyms:

   disorderly, unruly

7. (dated, slang) Cool, awesome, great.
   • They played a Beatle interview album on WBZ Boston radio. Real tough!1965 January 12, Lou Sullivan, Diary
8. (figuratively, informal) Of a question, difficult or demanding.
   • This is a tough crowd.
   • 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.1998, Lois Liederman Davitz, Joel Robert Davitz, 20 Tough Questions Teenagers Ask and 20 Tough Answers, Paulist Press, pages 6-7

   Synonyms:

   challenging, hard, arduous, nasty, difficult, sticky, effortful, rough, rocky, thistly

9. (material) Undergoing plastic deformation before breaking.
10. (figuratively, informal) Strict, not lenient.
    • tough on crime
    • 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, cruel, dour

Interjection

1. (slang) Used to indicate lack of sympathy
   • If you don't like it, tough!
   • 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

Noun

tough (plural toughs)

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

Verb

tough (third-person singular simple present toughs, present participle toughing, simple past and past participle toughed)

1. To endure.
   • 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
   • “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. To toughen.

Proper noun capitalized: Tough

Tough

1. A surname.