hard-edged

adjective

Definition of hard-edgednext
as in unsentimental

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hard-edged The Good, the Bad and the Painterly As Bouancheau fashioned a Puss that was more lyrical, like a character that stepped out of a fairy tale book and less hard-edged, all the other characters followed suit. — Karen Idelson, Variety, 23 Feb. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hard-edged
  1. unsentimental
  2. tough-minded
  3. unromantic
  4. bottom-line
  5. cynical
  6. grounded
  7. logical
  8. rational
Adjective
  • The novel also takes an unsentimental look at Jamaica, a country that, let the Sandals ads tell it, is mostly pristine beaches, jerk chicken, and Bob Marley’s One Love on a perpetual loop.
    — Tembe Denton-Hurst, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2026
  • The affect of these books—brisk, unsentimental, exacting—serves their diagnosis.
    — Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of unsentimental
Adjective
  • Everyone who watches Cochran sees a hard-nosed, tough-minded center back who makes an impact at both ends of the field.
    — Matt Le Cren, Chicago Tribune, 10 July 2026
  • Those are two tough-minded veterans.
    — David Aldridge, New York Times, 25 June 2026
Definition of tough-minded
Adjective
  • At the press conference, a journalist noted that his filmography is notable for its unromantic view of animal life.
    — Nate Jones, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2026
  • For 30 minutes, the hunter watched the whitetails play a cat-and-mouse game as the buck tried to stay close to the unromantic does.
    — Jeff Murray, Outdoor Life, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of unromantic
Adjective
  • Even then, McKinsey finds only 39% of organizations can attribute any bottom-line impact to AI, most of them under 5%, and MIT reports that 95% of enterprise AI pilots show no measurable profit-and-loss impact.
    — Prashant Jalan, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2026
  • Still, Spyder’s tactic set off a chain of legal and bottom-line events that all lead to next month’s hearing and potentially a trial next year.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of bottom-line
Adjective
  • The film is certainly casting a spell, and whether or not that’s simply cynical (and insidiously effective) marketing doesn’t much matter when you’re caught up in it.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2026
  • There’s rom-com-style banter between Alice and her colleague Danny (Scoot McNairy), and cynical mentorship from FBI agent Nora (Quincy Tyler Bernstine), who has seen enough to drive her to drink.
    — Joy Press, Vanity Fair, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of cynical
Adjective
  • The North Pole cruise is not for everyone…especially those who need frequent off-ship excursions to feel, well, grounded.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Sep. 2026
  • However, her performance soon takes on a more grounded, childlike cadence, which roots the supposedly amnesiac Margot a little too firmly within the literal, especially for a tale whose poetry lies in its uncanniness.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of grounded
Adjective
  • Large language models train on amalgamated content from millions of writers to predict the next logical word.
    — Marissa Brassfield, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2026
  • The decision to launch a separate block of programming aimed at those viewers, filled with raunchy cartoons that actively subverted nostalgia and violent anime that couldn’t be shown during daytime hours, was logical.
    — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of logical
Adjective
  • If that is true, and Clancy chose to kill herself and take her children with her, was her act rational?
    — Eren Orbey, New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2026
  • If only the film had lingered longer on Vasarhelyi’s totally rational horror and disbelief.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of rational

Browse Nearby Words

hard-driving
hard-edged
harden
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hard-edged.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hard-edged. Accessed 14 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of empirical

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
funny guinea pig in glasses reading a book
Challenging Words You Should Know Vol 2 Words to the wise
See All