Definition of hard-core
- hard-core poverty
- the hard-core unemployed
- a room gussied up in hard-core French provincial style
- —John Canaday
1934
bred-in-the-bone, confirmed, deep, deep-rooted, deep-seated, entrenched (also intrenched), inveterate, rooted, settled;
brief, ephemeral, fleeting, impermanent, interim, momentary, provisional, short-lived, short-term, temporary, transient;
firm, fixed, frozen, hard, hard-and-fast, immutable, irradicable, set, unalterable, unchangeable;
embedded (also imbedded), implanted, inculcated, instilled;
inborn, inbred, ingrained (also engrained), inherent, innate, integral, intrinsic, natural;
accustomed, chronic, customary, habitual, regular, typical, usual;
He knows that he can count on the support of a hard core of party loyalists.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hard core.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
1841
: very active and enthusiastic
: showing or describing sex acts very openly
: a small number of very active and enthusiastic members of a group : the most devoted and active members of a group
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