tough
14
1.7
- adjective
- /tʌf/
- If you let them dry out, they're too tough for the strongest teeth.
- tough to eat
- tough meat
- tough steak
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Watch on YouTubeSo sometimes those little nettles get too big and tough, we can't use them.
- So sometimes those little nettles get too big and tough, we can't use them.
- But when she opens it and she breaks it in half, it gets very tough and doesn't really break.
- The gum is like also kind of tough, but the toilet paper is tough.
- It was it was fucking very tasty, very tough man, you know.
- It's like it's so tough and stuff just doesn't grow through it.
Examples
-
Larvae of this aggressive herbivorous insect have a hearty appetite for tough old melaleuca foliage.
Academic text (1997) -
This steak is too tough to chew, so I need to cook it longer.
-
And much of the time, it is entirely too tough to eat.
Academic text (1992) -
Really, the skin's a little tough, but the flavor is great.
-
Frida looks up momentarily as she rips off a particularly tough piece of meat.
Fiction book (1999) -
After boiling the vegetables, I found the carrots were still quite tough.
-
The leather on this jacket is very tough and can withstand a lot of wear.
Synonyms
32
1.0
Hard to bite and break with your teeth because it is tough and a little rubbery
1
3.7
Tough and hard to chew, like overcooked meat or seafood
1
7.8
Food, especially meat, that has tough parts that are hard to chew
1
4.4
Tough and full of thin fibers that are hard to chew
1
6.0
Having tough stringy parts that are hard to chew
1
7.6
Meat with tough bits that are hard to chew
Antonyms
Idioms
Compounds
How Tough
Surface Forms
Etymology
Tough comes from an old English word toh meaning 'strong' or 'hard'. That is why food or material that is hard to cut or chew is described as tough — it is not soft or easy to bite.