tough love
31
4.5
- noun
- /tʌf lʌv/
:
disciplina estricta
- When your children misbehave, sometimes you have to practice tough love to help them learn right from wrong.
And he was, I suppose you could call it tough love of some sort.
- And he was, I suppose you could call it tough love of some sort.
- So it's like, it's like the same as tough love, you know, or fierce compassion.
- And that might sound quite tough, but it's tough love.
- But it's also the exact sort of like tough love message that Annie needs at that point.
- And it really is that tough love standpoint where we have carrots, we have sticks.
- You know, my parents even told me it was tough love.
- You know, one of the sharks will give some tough love and the founder will get quite defensive.
- And then my mother kept telling me, son, see, I tell people my mother was the best at tough love.
- On the receiving end of this brutal honesty, enablers will also lump this under things like tough love.
- So yeah, they did the tough love thing, and when I got on the path, they couldn't have been happier.
Examples
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And welcome to a tough love episode of the Mel Robbins Podcast.
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For those who need a dose of tough love cloaked in humor, this book may be the perfect read.
Blog text (24) -
These plants are in need of some real tough love.
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Sometimes that requires a little bit of tough love.
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Now, are you ready for the tough love?
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Now we give you tough love.
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I had this problem with my brother, and honestly, tough love is what needs to happen.
Blog text (7) -
When your children disobey, you must give them tough love.
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Maybe he needed a little tough love to let go of his imaginary friend.
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My parents are all about tough love since I bombed out of Penn State.
Fiction book (2002)
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a stern but caring approach' is directly inferable from combining 'tough' (stern/strict) with 'love' (care/affection): the noun denotes love expressed in a tough way. This is a compositional, adjective+noun pattern with cross-linguistic parallels, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would most likely understand the intended sense.
Etymology
The noun tough love comes from a simple picture: the tough actions are a kind of love, like a parent or coach who says 'no' or gives hard tasks to teach someone a lesson. So, it means 'strict but caring' action meant to help someone improve.