hard

/hahrd/, adj., harder, hardest, adv., harder, hardest, n.

adj.

1. not soft; solid and firm to the touch; unyielding to pressure and impenetrable or almost impenetrable.

2. firmly formed; tight: a hard knot.

3. difficult to do or accomplish; fatiguing; troublesome: a hard task.

4. difficult or troublesome with respect to an action, situation, person, etc.: hard to please; a hard time.

5. difficult to deal with, manage, control, overcome, or understand: a hard problem.

6. involving a great deal of effort, energy, or persistence: hard labor; hard study.

7. performing or carrying on work with great effort, energy, or persistence: a hard worker.

8. vigorous or violent in force; severe: a hard rain; a hard fall.

9. bad; unendurable; unbearable: hard luck.

10. oppressive; harsh; rough: hard treatment.

11. austere; severe: a hard winter; the hard times of the Great Depression.

12. harsh or severe in dealing with others: a hard master.

13. difficult to explain away; undeniable: hard facts.

14. that can be verified; factual, as distinguished from speculation or hearsay: hard information.

15. harsh or unfriendly; resentful; severe; bitter: hard feelings; hard words.

16. of stern judgment or close examination; searching: a hard look.

17. lacking delicacy or softness; not blurred or diffused; clear and distinct; sharp; harsh: a hard line; a hard, bright light; hard features; a hard face.

18. (of a photograph) contrasty.

19. severe or rigorous in terms: a hard bargain.

20. sternly realistic; dispassionate; unsentimental: a hard, practical man; a hard view of life.

21. incorrigible; disreputable; tough: a hard character.

22. Scot. and North Eng. niggardly; stingy.

23. in coins or paper money as distinguished from checks, securities, promissory notes, or other negotiable instruments).

24. (of paper money or a monetary system) supported by sufficient gold reserves and easily convertible into the currency of a foreign nation.

25. (of money) scarce or available at high interest rates: a hard loan.

26. denoting assets with intrinsic value, as gold, silver, or diamonds.

27. (of alcoholic beverages)

a. containing more than 22.5 percent alcohol by volume, as whiskey and brandy as opposed to beer and wine.

b. strong because of fermentation; intoxicating: hard cider.

28. (of wine) tasting excessively of tannin.

29. (of an illicit narcotic or drug) known to be physically addictive, as opium, morphine, or cocaine.

30. (of water) containing mineral salts that interfere with the action of soap.

31. (of bread and baked goods)

a. having a firm, crisp crust or texture: hard rolls.

b. stale or tough.

32. (of a fabric) having relatively little nap; smooth: Silk is a harder fabric than wool or cotton.

33. (of the landing of a rocket or space vehicle) executed without decelerating: a hard landing on the moon. Cf. soft (def. 28).

34. (of a missile base) equipped to launch missiles from underground silos.

35. (of a missile) capable of being launched from an underground silo.

36. Mil. being underground and strongly protected from nuclear bombardment.

37. Agric. noting wheats with high gluten content, milled for a bread flour as contrasted with pastry flour.

38. Phonet.

a. fortis.

b. (of c and g) pronounced as /k/ in come and /g/ in go, rather than as in cent, cello, suspicion, gem, or beige.

c. (of consonants in Slavic languages) not palatalized. Cf. soft (def. 26).

39. (in the making of rope) noting a lay having a considerable angle to the axis of the rope; short.

40. Physics. (of a beam of particles or photons) having relatively high energy: hard x-rays. Cf. soft (def. 29).

41. (of the penis) erect.

42. hard of hearing. See hearing-impaired.

43. hard up, Informal.

a. urgently in need of money.

b. feeling a lack or need: The country is hard up for technicians and doctors.

adv.

44. with great exertion; with vigor or violence; strenuously: to work hard; to try hard.

45. earnestly, intently, or critically: to look hard at a thing.

46. harshly or severely.

47. so as to be solid, tight, or firm: frozen hard.

48. with strong force or impact: She tripped and came down hard on her back.

49. in a deeply affected manner; with genuine sorrow or remorse: She took it very hard when they told her of his death.

50. closely; immediately: Failure and defeat seemed hard at hand. The decision to ban students from the concerts followed hard on the heels of the riot.

51. to an unreasonable or extreme degree; excessively; immoderately: He's hitting the bottle pretty hard.

52. Naut. closely, fully, or to the extreme limit: hard aport; hard alee.

53. be hard on, to deal harshly with; be stern: You are being too hard on him.

54. hard by, in close proximity to; near: The house is hard by the river.

55. hard put, in great perplexity or difficulty; at a loss: We were hard put to finish the examination in one hour.

n.

56. Naut. a firm or paved beach or slope convenient for hauling vessels out of the water.

57. Brit.

a. a firm or solid beach or foreshore.

b. a firm landing, jetty, or road across or adjoining the foreshore.

58. Brit. Slang. See hard labor.

[bef. 900; ME; OE heard; c. D hard, G hart, ON harthr, Goth hardus; akin to Gk kratýs strong, Ionic dial. kártos strength (cf. -CRACY)]

Syn. 1. inflexible, rigid, compressed, compact, dense, resisting, adamantine, flinty. See firm¹. 3. toilsome, burdensome, wearisome, exhausting. HARD, DIFFICULT both describe something resistant to one's efforts or one's endurance. HARD is the general word: hard times; It was hard to endure the severe weather. DIFFICULT means not easy, and particularly denotes that which requires special effort or skill: a difficult task.

5. complex, complicated, perplexing, puzzling, intricate, knotty, tough. 6. arduous, onerous, laborious. 8. stormy, tempestuous. 10. severe, rigorous, grinding, cruel, merciless, unsparing. 12. stern, austere, strict, exacting, relentless, obdurate, adamant; unyielding, unpitying.

HARD, CALLOUS, UNFEELING, UNSYMPATHETIC imply a lack of interest in, feeling for, or sympathy with others. HARD implies insensibility, either natural or acquired, so that the plight of others makes no impression on one: a hard taskmaster. CALLOUS may mean the same or that one is himself or herself insensitive to hurt as the result of continued repression and indifference: a callous answer; callous to criticism. UNFEELING implies natural inability to feel with and for others: an unfeeling and thoughtless remark. UNSYMPATHETIC implies an indifference that precludes pity, compassion, or the like: unsympathetic toward distress. 13. incontrovertible.

Ant. 1. soft. 3-6. easy.

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(as used in expressions)

hard coal

hard disk

hard water

strong and hard punishment

Townes Charles Hard

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