Tough Definition

tŭf
toughed, tougher, toughest, toughs
adjective
tougher, toughest
Strong but pliant; that will bend, twist, etc. without tearing or breaking.
Webster's New World
That will not cut or chew easily.
Tough steak.
Webster's New World
Strongly cohesive; glutinous; viscous; sticky.
Tough putty.
Webster's New World
Strong of physique; robust; hardy.
Webster's New World
Strong-minded; resolute.
A tough negotiator.
American Heritage
noun
toughs
A tough person; thug.
Webster's New World
interjection
Too bad!
Webster's New World
(slang) Used to indicate lack of sympathy.
If you don't like it, tough!
Wiktionary
verb
toughed

To endure.

Wiktionary
Wiktionary
idiom
that's tough
  • Used to indicate recalcitrance or noncompliance with a complaint or demand.
American Heritage
tough it out
  • To get through despite hardship; endure:
American Heritage
tough it out
  • to remain firm in the face of difficulty, often, specif., in a brazen or defiant way
Webster's New World
tough out
  • to remain firm in the face of (a specified difficulty)

    a generation that toughed out the Depression

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Tough

Noun

Singular:
tough
Plural:
toughs

Adjective

Base Form:
tough
Comparative:
tougher
Superlative:
toughest

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Tough

  • that's tough
  • tough it out
  • tough it out
  • tough out

Origin of Tough

  • From Middle English tough, towgh, tou, toȝ, from Old English tōh (“tough, tenacious, holding fast together; pliant; sticky, glutinous, clammy"), from Proto-Germanic *tanhuz (“fitting; clinging; tenacious; tough"), from Proto-Indo-European *denḱ- (“to bite"), nasalised derivative of Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to tear, rip, fray"). Cognate with Scots teuch (“tough"), North Frisian tōch, tÅ«ch (“tough"), Dutch taai (“tough"), Low German tage, taag, taë, taa (“tough"), German zähe, zäh (“tough"), German dialectal zach (“tough").

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English tōh

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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