Definition of tough love
: love or affectionate concern expressed in a stern or unsentimental manner (as through discipline) especially to promote responsible behavior
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Recent Examples of tough love from the Web
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Dan uses some tough love to explain that her kids are one emergency away from cleaning her bank account out.
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And for every one of the strong Black mothers in Hidden Figures, trying to get ahead in their careers and a racist society, there is Empire’s Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), a connoisseur of tough love and occasional crime.
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Overseen: Manager Ron Gardenhire displayed some tough love, talking to Dixon Machado about not covering second base on Soler’s steal.
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Was Mora trying to slap the free-spirited Rosen with some tough love?
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If some humans got tough love, the other kind was most visible in his relationship with Angus, his prancing, barking, jumping Australian shepherd.
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Russell, in character as Elizabeth Jennings, a KGB agent living undercover in the United States in the waning days of the Cold War, was dispensing some tough love to her daughter, Paige (Taylor) a college student sympathetic to the Soviet cause.
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And while Nairn, who lives with Bridges in East Lansing and rooms with him on the road, offers the kind of support a teammate and peer might, Izzo is trying to offer the tough love of a coach.
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On a bad day, however, Saturn can be harsh and unemotional, forcing us to learn through tough love and difficult challenges.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'tough love.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of tough love
1968
TOUGH LOVE Defined for English Language Learners
tough love
Definition of tough love for English Language Learners
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: love or concern that is expressed in a strict way especially to make someone behave responsibly
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