tough

Meanings

• someone who learned to fight in the streets rather than being formally trained in the sport of boxing
• an aggressive and violent young criminal
• a cruel and brutal fellow
• not given to gentleness or sentimentality
  • "a tough character"
• very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution
  • "the competition was tough"
  • "it's a tough life"
  • "it was a tough job"
• physically toughened
  • "the tough bottoms of his feet"
• substantially made or constructed
  • "a tough all-weather fabric"
  • "some plastics are as tough as metal"
• violent and lawless
  • "tough street gangs"
• feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad')
  • "he was feeling tough after a restless night"
• resistant to cutting or chewing
• unfortunate or hard to bear
  • "a tough break"
• making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe

Synonyms

bad, baffling, bully, elusive, goon, hard, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, knotty, problematic, problematical, punk, roughneck, rowdy, ruffian, ruffianly, rugged, street fighter, strong-armer, sturdy, thug, toughened, toughie, yob, yobbo, yobo