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TOUGH
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A cruel and brutal fellow
Synonyms:
bully; hooligan; roughneck; rowdy; ruffian; tough; yob; yobbo; yobo
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("tough" is a kind of...):
aggressor; assailant; assaulter; attacker (someone who attacks)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tough"):
bullyboy (a swaggering tough; usually one acting as an agent of a political faction)
muscle; muscleman (a bully employed as a thug or bodyguard)
skin; skinhead (a member of any of several British or American groups consisting predominantly of young people who shave their heads; some engage in white supremacist and anti-immigrant activities and this leads to the perception that all skinheads are racist and violent)
plug-ugly; tough guy (someone who bullies weaker people)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An aggressive and violent young criminal
Synonyms:
goon; hood; hoodlum; punk; strong-armer; thug; tough; toughie
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("tough" is a kind of...):
criminal; crook; felon; malefactor; outlaw (someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tough"):
bully (a hired thug)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Someone who learned to fight in the streets rather than being formally trained in the sport of boxing
Synonyms:
street fighter; tough
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("tough" is a kind of...):
battler; belligerent; combatant; fighter; scrapper (someone who fights (or is fighting))
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Feeling physical discomfort or pain ('tough' is occasionally used colloquially for 'bad')
Example:
he was feeling tough after a restless night
Synonyms:
bad; tough
Classified under:
Similar:
uncomfortable (providing or experiencing physical discomfort)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Substantially made or constructed
Example:
some plastics are as tough as metal
Synonyms:
sturdy; tough
Classified under:
Similar:
rugged (sturdy and strong in constitution or construction; enduring)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe
Example:
a problematic situation at home
Synonyms:
baffling; elusive; knotty; problematic; problematical; tough
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
difficult; hard (not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure)
Derivation:
toughness (impressive difficulty)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution
Example:
it was a tough job
Synonyms:
rugged; tough
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
difficult; hard (not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure)
Derivation:
toughness (impressive difficulty)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Unfortunate or hard to bear
Example:
a tough break
Synonyms:
hard; tough
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
bad (having undesirable or negative qualities)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Resistant to cutting or chewing
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
tough-skinned (having a relatively tough outer covering)
fibrous; hempen (having or resembling fibers especially fibers used in making cordage such as those of jute)
fibrous; sinewy; stringy; unchewable ((of meat) full of sinews; especially impossible to chew)
coriaceous; leathered; leatherlike; leathery (resembling or made to resemble leather; tough but pliable)
chewy (requiring much chewing)
cartilaginous; gristly; rubbery (difficult to chew)
Also:
inedible; uneatable (not suitable for food)
Antonym:
tender (easy to cut or chew)
Derivation:
toughness (impressive difficulty)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Physically toughened
Example:
the tough bottoms of his feet
Synonyms:
tough; toughened
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
callous; calloused; thickened (having calluses; having skin made tough and thick through wear)
enured; hardened; inured (made tough by habitual exposure)
weather-beaten (tanned and coarsened from being outdoors)
Also:
rugged (sturdy and strong in constitution or construction; enduring)
experienced; experient (having experience; having knowledge or skill from observation or participation)
strong (having strength or power greater than average or expected)
Antonym:
tender (physically untoughened)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Not given to gentleness or sentimentality
Example:
a tough character
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
hard-bitten; hard-boiled; pugnacious (tough and callous by virtue of experience)
tough-minded; unsentimental (facing facts or difficulties realistically and with determination)
Also:
hard (dispassionate)
insensitive (deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive)
Antonym:
tender (given to sympathy or gentleness or sentimentality)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Violent and lawless
Example:
tough street gangs
Synonyms:
ruffianly; tough
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
violent (acting with or marked by or resulting from great force or energy or emotional intensity)
Context examples:
Cytokeratins are a family of cysteine-rich fibrous structural proteins that form tough filaments or sheets.
(Cytokeratin, NCI Thesaurus)
He also commented on the future, This is only the beginning and I am very lucky to win (...) It's deserved but in the future these guys will be tougher to beat.
(Norway's Warholm wins gold in 400 m hurdles at World Championships in Doha, Wikinews)
A tough, flexible tissue that lines joints and gives structure to the nose, ears, larynx, and other parts of the body.
(Cartilage, NCI Dictionary)
The tough outer layer of tissue that covers and protects the brain and spinal cord and is closest to the skull.
(Dura mater, NCI Dictionary)
He tries this on very much with me, but I flatter myself he has got a tough nut to crack.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Tough as they make them and twice as nasty.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Since the beginning of the winter they had travelled eighteen hundred miles, dragging sleds the whole weary distance; and eighteen hundred miles will tell upon life of the toughest.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
Once I looked into that bay, Jim Hawkins, and seen no schooner—well, I'm tough, but I gave out.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
A condition marked by thickening of the outer layer of the skin, which is made of keratin (a tough, protective protein).
(Hyperkeratosis, NCI Dictionary)
Ma foi! but there are men whose hearts are tougher than a boar's hide.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
