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Definition of tough love
: love or affectionate concern expressed in a stern or unsentimental manner (as through discipline) especially to promote responsible behavior
Examples of tough love in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web But cohabiting with this guy will ultimately be worse for your relationship (with him, and with each other) than delivering the tough love now.
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Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, "Couple argues over emotional affair," 3 June 2020 But cohabiting with this guy will ultimately be worse for your relationship (with him, and with each other) than delivering the tough love now.
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Amy Dickinson, oregonlive, "Ask Amy: What defines an emotional affair?," 3 June 2020 His mother, Angela Evangelist, chose to not bail him out, hoping tough love and staying in jail could better keep him sober than going back to the streets.
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Cassandra Jaramillo, Dallas News, "Dallas County Jail has struggled to test for COVID-19, but help could be on the way," 15 May 2020 Granted - any tough love is easier to hear when it is accompanied by a hug, tenderness, and the reaction that every hurting person values which is to feel seen and understood.
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Amy Dickinson, oregonlive, "Ask Amy: Accomplished high school senior grieves loss of traditional celebrations," 1 May 2020 Granted – any tough love is easier to hear when it is accompanied by a hug, tenderness, and the reaction that every hurting person values which is to feel seen and understood.
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Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, "Sad for high school senior missing a lot," 1 May 2020 Katy Perry is having a baby girl, who had better be ready for some tough love.
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Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, "Katy Perry on Why She’ll Be a Good Mom: ‘I’m the Toughest Bitch’," 6 Apr. 2020 Doumbouya gets some tough love Rookie forward Sekou Doumbouya has learned some hard lessons the past three games after a series of eye-opening performances.
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Dana Gauruder, Detroit Free Press, "The Derrick Rose, Reggie Jackson duo may unlock the Detroit Pistons offense," 23 Jan. 2020 Dwayne Johnson went on to say that his father raised him with tough love that shaped him and helped him learn the value hard work and discipline.
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NBC News, "Rocky Johnson, famed wrestler and father of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, dead at 75," 16 Jan. 2020
See MoreThese 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.
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Time Traveler for tough love
The first known use of tough love was in 1968
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