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Definition of tough
1 : difficult to accomplish, resolve, endure, or deal with a tough question tough luck
2 : capable of enduring strain, hardship, or severe labor tough soldiers
4a : strong or firm in texture but flexible and not brittleb : not easily chewed tough meat
5 : characterized by severity or uncompromising determination tough laws tough discipline
6 : very hard to influence : stubborn a tough negotiator
7 : stubbornly fought a tough contest
8 : marked by absence of softness or sentimentality a tough critic
toughly
adverbtoughness
nounExplore Merriam-Webster
Examples of tough in a Sentence
I have a tough constitution, and my profession taught me how to compete against long odds and big obstacles. —Lance Armstrong, It's Not About The Bike, (2000) 2001
… Pelletreau had firsthand experience in dealing with Israelis as well as with Arabs and had a reputation for being bold, analytical, and tough as nails. —Robert D. Kaplan, The Arabists, 1993
He had on the other hand to preserve his own reputation as a tough D.A. who dealt handily with the criminal classes. —E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime, (1974) 1975
… this wiry, tough, frenetic Algerian with the beneficent smile, who could vault over the bar and stiff-arm a drunk out into the night in less time than it takes to say Edgar Poe, and return, bland as butter, to take up where he left off … —William Styron, “The Paris Review,” August 1953, in William Styron, This Quiet Dust And Other Writings, (1953) 1982
She had a tough time in college.
Are you tough enough for the job?
He's been hanging around with a bunch of tough guys.
The rug is made of tough material.
Recent Examples of tough from the Web
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Identifying which noncoding variants might affect nearby autism genes is an even tougher problem than finding the genes in the first place, and graduate student Jian Zhou in Troyanskaya’s Princeton lab is deploying AI to solve it.
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But the development may also reflect a growing sentiment among Louisianans of all political stripes that to effectively reduce recidivism and bring down the economic costs of mass incarceration, the state must rethink its tough-on-crime policies.
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Despite the world's wealth of carbon dioxide, extracting it on a commercial scale— where it can be stored underground or recycled into other products—has been a tough nut to crack.
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If Laguna changes their rules and other cities don’t, then Laguna will have a tougher time hiring and retaining good people because they will be tempted to …
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Throughout its run, The Carmichael Show garnered critical acclaim for its ability to tackle tough topics ranging from Bill Cosby to, more recently, the N-word.
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Corey Kluber, though, proved too tough for the Rangers, and a strange third inning and painful fifth for Cashner opened the door for the Indians to streak to a 5-1 victory and knock the Rangers to their third loss in four games.
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The Zee-Bees suffered numerous tough losses, partly due to a shortage of players and the lack of a true inside player, to finish 11-19.
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RELATED: Metro’s Tough Choice: Which Neighborhoods Deserve Rail Stations?
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'tough'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of tough
Middle English, from Old English tōh; akin to Old High German zāhi tough
Synonym Discussion of tough
Examples of tough in a Sentence
He talks tough but he's not really dangerous.
Origin and Etymology of tough
see 1tough
Examples of tough in a Sentence
One night, after antagonizing a gang of older toughs, he had his face smashed in with a hockey stick. —John Harris, Rolling Stone, 14 Nov. 2002
They weren't strong enough to fight Sankoh and his hopped-up young toughs, who number in the thousands. —Tom Masland, et al., Newsweek, 15 May 2000
The subways provided fine service, except that lately there had been a problem. Packs of young toughs had taken to roaming the cars. —Tom Wolf, Harper's, November 1989
didn't want her son hanging out with the neighborhood toughs
Origin and Etymology of tough
see 1tough
Definition of tough
transitive verb
: to bear unflinchingly : endure —usually used with out especially in the phrase tough it out
Examples of tough in a Sentence
Summer in New York is coasting the dairy aisle at Safeway. … It's finding the spot in a subway car where the vent blows strongest and staying there past your stop, toughing it out when the “excuse me, ladies and gentlemen” hard-luck stories blow through. —Guy Trebay, Village Voice, 30 July 1991
… they were toughing it out with the help of the greatest ally a macho young cop ever had, booze. —Joseph Wambaugh, Lines and Shadows, 1984
Origin and Etymology of tough
see 1tough
TOUGH Defined for English Language Learners
tough
playDefinition of tough for English Language Learners
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: very difficult to do or deal with
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: physically and emotionally strong : able to do hard work, to deal with harsh conditions, etc.
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: physically strong and violent
tough
playDefinition of tough for English Language Learners
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: in a way that shows that you are strong or tough
TOUGH Defined for Kids
tough
playDefinition of tough for Students
tougher
;toughest
1 : strong or firm but flexible and not brittle tough fibers tough leather
2 : not easily chewed tough meat
3 : physically or emotionally strong enough to put up with strain or hardship
4 : very strict, firm, or determined a tough coach tough rules
5 : very difficult to do or deal with We've had some tough times. The math test was tough.
6 : lawless 2 a tough neighborhood
toughness
nounLearn More about tough
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See words that rhyme with tough Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for tough Spanish Central: Translation of tough Nglish: Translation of tough for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of tough for Arabic speakers
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