made hard or flexible or resilient especially by heat treatment | resistant to cutting or chewing |
protected against attack (especially by nuclear weapons) | physically toughened |
made tough by habitual exposure | not given to gentleness or sentimentality |
converted to solid form (as concrete) | unfortunate or hard to bear |
used of persons; emotionally hardened | substantially made or constructed |
| feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad') |
| violent and lawless |
| very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution |
| making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe |