tough

noun

a cruel and brutal fellow

an aggressive and violent young criminal

someone who learned to fight in the streets rather than being formally trained in the sport of boxing

adjective

making great mental demands

unfortunate or hard to bear

resistant to cutting or chewing

feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad')

violent and lawless

substantially made or constructed

physically toughened

very difficult

not given to gentleness or sentimentality

Synonyms for tough

hardadj ruggedadj sturdyadj difficultadj leatherlikeadj harshadj roughadj badadj difficile arduousadj tenaciousadj gruelingadj trickyadj backbreakingadj roughneckn granitelikeadj strongadj

Synonyms & related words for tough

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of tough — including hard, rugged, sturdy, difficult, leatherlike, harsh. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to tough

Explore words related to tough — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include toughish, toughie, toughened, overhard, ruffianly, problematical, hardnosed, semihard. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for tough

Common synonyms for tough include hard, rugged, sturdy, difficult, leatherlike, harsh, rough, bad — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.