What is another word for tough?
Synonyms for tough
tʌftough
This thesaurus page includes all potential synonyms, words with the same meaning and similar terms for the word tough.
Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms
Princeton's WordNet
street fighter, toughnoun
someone who learned to fight in the streets rather than being formally trained in the sport of boxing
Synonyms:
yobo, hoodlum, toughie, rowdy, hood, bully, hooligan, goon, yobbo, yob, strong-armer, roughneck, ruffian, street fighter, punk, thugAntonyms:
nonviolent, good, tender, delicate, sentimental, protective, easy, flakey, flaky, tenderised, crispy, soft, untoughened, crisp, comfortable, chewable, tenderized, comfy, cuttablehood, hoodlum, goon, punk, thug, tough, toughie, strong-armernoun
an aggressive and violent young criminal
Synonyms:
goon, sticker, stumper, lubber, oaf, strong-armer, ruffian, stumblebum, tinder, punk, kindling, cowling, poser, exhaust hood, cowl, punk rocker, street fighter, bully, clod, yobo, thug, toughie, yob, hooligan, roughneck, spunk, yobbo, hoodlum, lummox, punk rock, lout, lump, touchwood, rowdy, lens hood, gawk, bonnet, hood, capAntonyms:
crisp, untoughened, delicate, flaky, tenderised, tender, chewable, tenderized, flakey, crispy, sentimental, good, easy, soft, comfortable, protective, nonviolent, cuttable, comfybully, tough, hooligan, ruffian, roughneck, rowdy, yob, yobo, yobboadjective
a cruel and brutal fellow
Synonyms:
yobo, hoodlum, toughie, rowdy, hood, bully, hooligan, goon, yobbo, yob, strong-armer, roughneck, ruffian, street fighter, punk, thugAntonyms:
tenderised, sentimental, delicate, flakey, easy, good, tender, flaky, protective, chewable, crispy, untoughened, soft, comfortable, tenderized, cuttable, comfy, nonviolent, crisptoughadjective
not given to gentleness or sentimentality
"a tough character"
Synonyms:
rugged, baffling, toughened, problematic, bad, sturdy, hard, problematical, elusive, ruffianly, knottyAntonyms:
crisp, good, tenderized, flakey, delicate, tender, chewable, comfy, crispy, easy, untoughened, sentimental, tenderised, nonviolent, protective, cuttable, flaky, soft, comfortablerugged, toughadjective
very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution
"a rugged competitive examination"; "the rugged conditions of frontier life"; "the competition was tough"; "it's a tough life"; "it was a tough job"
Synonyms:
rugged, toughened, problematic, broken, sturdy, hard, furrowed, problematical, elusive, baffling, bad, ruffianly, knottyAntonyms:
tender, chewable, flakey, tenderised, delicate, easy, cuttable, protective, crisp, nonviolent, soft, sentimental, comfortable, tenderized, untoughened, flaky, crispy, good, comfytough, toughenedadjective
physically toughened
"the tough bottoms of his feet"
Synonyms:
rugged, baffling, toughened, problematic, bad, sturdy, tempered, hard, hardened, problematical, treated, elusive, ruffianly, knottyAntonyms:
tender, crisp, tenderised, delicate, untoughened, sentimental, crispy, comfortable, flaky, protective, good, tenderized, chewable, easy, comfy, nonviolent, soft, flakey, cuttablesturdy, toughadjective
substantially made or constructed
"sturdy steel shelves"; "sturdy canvas"; "a tough all-weather fabric"; "some plastics are as tough as metal"
Synonyms:
knotty, problematic, ruffianly, bad, rugged, toughened, baffling, stout, elusive, hard, sturdy, inflexible, stalwart, uncompromising, hardy, problematicalAntonyms:
tenderised, crispy, cuttable, flakey, untoughened, comfortable, tender, delicate, good, crisp, tenderized, easy, chewable, soft, sentimental, comfy, nonviolent, protective, flakyruffianly, toughadjective
violent and lawless
"the more ruffianly element"; "tough street gangs"
Synonyms:
rugged, toughened, problematic, bad, sturdy, hard, problematical, elusive, baffling, ruffianly, knottyAntonyms:
nonviolent, flaky, chewable, delicate, soft, tenderized, comfortable, tender, untoughened, comfy, tenderised, good, easy, cuttable, crisp, sentimental, flakey, protective, crispybad, toughadjective
feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad')
"my throat feels bad"; "she felt bad all over"; "he was feeling tough after a restless night"
Synonyms:
knotty, big, regretful, spoiled, ruffianly, uncollectible, risky, speculative, bad, rugged, toughened, problematic, baffling, elusive, hard, forged, defective, sturdy, sorry, spoilt, unsound, high-risk, problematical, unfitAntonyms:
untoughened, chewable, tender, soft, comfy, protective, delicate, cuttable, crisp, easy, crispy, good, flaky, comfortable, tenderised, sentimental, nonviolent, flakey, tenderizedtoughadjective
resistant to cutting or chewing
Synonyms:
rugged, baffling, toughened, problematic, bad, sturdy, hard, problematical, elusive, ruffianly, knottyAntonyms:
cuttable, tender, delicate, flakey, crispy, tenderized, chewable, easy, comfortable, comfy, untoughened, protective, good, sentimental, nonviolent, tenderised, crisp, soft, flakyhard, toughadjective
unfortunate or hard to bear
"had hard luck"; "a tough break"
Synonyms:
severe, knotty, arduous, grueling, ruffianly, toilsome, hard, bad, rugged, sturdy, toughened, heavy, voiceless, laborious, difficult, elusive, knockout, gruelling, intemperate, concentrated, punishing, unvoiced, problematic, operose, backbreaking, problematical, surd, strong, bafflingAntonyms:
crispy, comfortable, protective, easy, good, tenderised, delicate, cuttable, comfy, tender, flaky, tenderized, flakey, sentimental, chewable, crisp, soft, nonviolent, untoughenedbaffling, elusive, knotty, problematic, problematical, toughadjective
making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe
"a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home"
Synonyms:
subtle, gnarled, involved, knotty, problematical, debatable, ruffianly, bad, rugged, toughened, problematic, snarly, baffling, gnarly, hard, tangled, sturdy, knobbed, knotted, elusive, tortuous, convoluted, snarledAntonyms:
tender, delicate, sentimental, protective, crispy, comfortable, easy, nonviolent, flakey, soft, flaky, comfy, cuttable, untoughened, chewable, good, tenderised, tenderized, crisp
Dictionary of English Synonymes
toughadjective
Synonyms:
adhesive, tenacious, cohesive, not brittle, not easily brokentoughadjective
Synonyms:
coriaceous, leatherytoughadjective
toughadjective
Synonyms:
refractory, stubborn, obduratetoughadjective
Synonyms:
[Colloquial.] difficult, hard, hard to deal withtoughadjective
Synonyms:
[Colloquial.] severe (as a storm), violent
Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words
toughadjective
Synonyms:
tenacious, unyielding, cohesive, adhesive, obdurate, refractory, stubborn, difficult, arduous, hard
Words popularity by usage frequency
How to use tough in a sentence?
Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell:
It's a measure of her tenacity and dedication that after the tough initial rollout of HealthCare.gov, she helped right the ship.
Ferrari Chairman Sergio Marchionne:
What Jaguar has done with the Lightweight [E-Type] cars is clever, but reinventing the 250 is a tough gig, and living off the spoils of the past is a bad habit to get into.
Felice Leonardo (Leo) Buscaglia, Ph.D.:
Don't avoid people who create negative states within you. We have a tendency to turn around and walk away, but they are going to require you to reevaluate yourself and see yourself in a new light. Sally doesn't upset you. You upset you. She puts you in a negative state because she doesn't meet your expectations. Well, tough for you.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons:
It was a tough decision, no question about it, it backfired. I felt good about putting Sanchy in. It didn't work. When those don't work, you analyze them, that's for sure.
It's definitely tough, this one bites, going into the third period with the lead. That's one we need to have. ... We liked the effort, but you've got to win in this league to move on. We've got to dig a little deeper.
Translations for tough
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- صارمArabic
- tvrdýCzech
- hårdeDanish
- zähGerman
- σκληρός, τραχύςGreek
- malmolaEsperanto
- severo, resistente, de mano duraSpanish
- سفتPersian
- hankala, kova, sitkeä, vaativa, kovis, ankaraFinnish
- difficile, durFrench
- righinIrish
- righinn, tapaidh, fulangachScottish Gaelic
- कठिनHindi
- rágósHungarian
- kerasIndonesian
- duroItalian
- קָשׁ� הHebrew
- きつい, 辛い, たいへんJapanese
- მკაცრი, ხულიგანი, უხეში, გამძლეGeorgian
- ಕಠಿಣKannada
- 힘든Korean
- lentaLatin
- taaiDutch
- vanskeligNorwegian
- trudnyPolish
- ګران, سخت, کلکPashto, Pushto
- resistentePortuguese
- greuRomanian
- трудный, жёсткий, прочный, тяжёлый, тяжкийRussian
- tuffSwedish
- கடினமானTamil
- కఠినమైనTelugu
- ยากThai
- sertTurkish
- � орсткийUkrainian
- مشکلUrdu
- khóVietnamese
- האַרטYiddish
- 强硬Chinese
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"tough." Synonyms.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.synonyms.com/synonym/tough>.
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