Entry Word: hardy

Function: adjective

Meaning: 1 able to withstand hardship, strain, or exposure <chrysanthemums are hardy enough to survive a light frost> <the men and women who settled the West were a hardy lot>

Synonyms hard, hard-bitten, hardened, inured, rugged, stout, strong, sturdy, tough, toughened, vigorous

Related Words flinty, leathery, resilient, stalwart; durable, enduring, everlasting, immortal, imperishable, lasting, permanent, stable, staunch (or stanch), staying, tenacious, unyielding; flourishing, prospering, thriving; able-bodied, brawny, muscular; fit, fortified, hale, healthy, husky, lusty, red-blooded, robust, sound, strapping, virile; annealed, seasoned, tempered

Near Antonyms emasculated, enervated, enfeebled, exhausted, run-down, sapped, wasted, weakened, worn, worn out; crippled, debilitated, diseased, incapacitated, infirm, unsound; fragile, frail, puny; resistless, sensitive, susceptible, unresistant, vulnerable, yielding; mortal, perishable, temporary, transient

Antonyms delicate, nonhardy, soft, tender, weak

2 inclined or willing to take risks <hardy souls, who pioneered new paths into outer space> — see bold 1