Synonyms for tough

Synonyms for (noun) tough

Synonyms: bully, tough, roughneck, rowdy, ruffian, yobbo, yobo, yob, hooligan

Definition: a cruel and brutal fellow

Similar words: assailant, assaulter, attacker, aggressor

Definition: someone who attacks


Synonyms: goon, hood, hoodlum, strong-armer, tough, toughie, thug, punk

Definition: an aggressive and violent young criminal

Similar words: criminal, crook, malefactor, felon, outlaw

Definition: someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime


Synonyms: street fighter, tough

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

Similar words: scrapper, belligerent, battler, combatant, fighter

Definition: someone who fights (or is fighting)


Synonyms for (adj) tough

Synonyms: tough, bad

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

Usage: my throat feels bad; she felt bad all over; he was feeling tough after a restless night

Similar words: uncomfortable

Definition: providing or experiencing physical discomfort

Usage: an uncomfortable chair; an uncomfortable day in the hot sun


Synonyms: sturdy, tough

Definition: substantially made or constructed

Usage: sturdy steel shelves; sturdy canvas; a tough all-weather fabric; some plastics are as tough as metal

Similar words: rugged

Definition: sturdy and strong in constitution or construction; enduring

Usage: with a house full of boys you have to have rugged furniture


Synonyms: elusive, tough, baffling, problematic, problematical, knotty

Definition: making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe

Usage: a baffling problem; I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast; a problematic situation at home

Similar words: difficult, hard

Definition: not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure

Usage: a difficult task; nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access; difficult times; why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?


Synonyms: tough, rugged

Definition: very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution

Usage: a rugged competitive examination; the rugged conditions of frontier life; the competition was tough; it's a tough life; it was a tough job

Similar words: difficult, hard

Definition: not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure

Usage: a difficult task; nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access; difficult times; why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?


Synonyms: hard, tough

Definition: unfortunate or hard to bear

Usage: had hard luck; a tough break

Similar words: bad

Definition: having undesirable or negative qualities

Usage: a bad report card; his sloppy appearance made a bad impression; a bad little boy; clothes in bad shape; a bad cut; bad luck; the news was very bad; the reviews were bad; the pay is bad; it was a bad light for reading; the movie was a bad choice


Synonyms: tough

Definition: resistant to cutting or chewing

Similar words: cartilaginous, rubbery, gristly

Definition: difficult to chew


Similar words: chewy

Definition: requiring much chewing


Similar words: leathered, leatherlike, leathery, coriaceous

Definition: resembling or made to resemble leather; tough but pliable


Similar words: unchewable, stringy, sinewy, fibrous

Definition: (of meat) full of sinews; especially impossible to chew


Similar words: fibrous, hempen

Definition: having or resembling fibers especially fibers used in making cordage such as those of jute


Similar words: tough-skinned

Definition: having a relatively tough outer covering


Synonyms: tough, toughened

Definition: physically toughened

Usage: the tough bottoms of his feet

Similar words: thickened, callous, calloused

Definition: having calluses; having skin made tough and thick through wear

Usage: calloused skin; with a workman's callous hands


Similar words: hardened, enured, inured

Definition: made tough by habitual exposure

Usage: hardened fishermen; a peasant, dark, lean-faced, wind-inured- Robert Lynd; our successors...may be graver, more inured and equable men- V.S.Pritchett


Similar words: weather-beaten

Definition: tanned and coarsened from being outdoors

Usage: a weather-beaten face


Synonyms: tough

Definition: not given to gentleness or sentimentality

Usage: a tough character

Similar words: hard-bitten, hard-boiled, pugnacious

Definition: tough and callous by virtue of experience


Similar words: tough-minded, unsentimental

Definition: facing facts or difficulties realistically and with determination


Synonyms: tough, ruffianly

Definition: violent and lawless

Usage: the more ruffianly element; tough street gangs

Similar words: violent

Definition: acting with or marked by or resulting from great force or energy or emotional intensity

Usage: a violent attack; a violent person; violent feelings; a violent rage; felt a violent dislike


Visual thesaurus for tough