hard nail
- noun
- Informal
:
duro
- In the courtroom, the lawyer was known as a hard nail who never showed weakness.
Examples
-
She is a hard nail in negotiations.
-
You need to be a hard nail to survive in this industry.
-
He’s a hard nail and won’t be intimidated by threats or pressure.
-
You have to be a hard nail to work long hours in such a competitive environment.
-
In the courtroom, the lawyer was known as a hard nail who never showed weakness.
-
He’s a hard nail and won’t be intimidated by threats or pressure.
-
You need to be a hard nail to survive in this industry.
Synonyms
5
7.5
A person who is strong and may threaten or hurt others
4
7.6
A person, question, or thing that is very difficult to deal with
3
5.3
A person who is hard to deal with or persuade when making a deal
1
6.6
A person who is stubborn and does not change their mind
1
8.1
A person who is tough and difficult to deal with
Antonyms
How Tough
Surface Forms
Morphology
hard + nail
The meaning 'a person who is very tough or unyielding' cannot be straightforwardly derived from 'hard' (firm) + 'nail' (a spike or fingernail), since 'nail' does not denote a person and the collocation is not a standard compositional pattern in English. Although a related idiom exists ('tough as nails'), 'hard nail' is not conventionally used this way, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would not reliably infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Hard nail paints a clear image: a nail is a small, hard metal pin that holds things tight, and if it is hard you cannot bend or move it. So, calling someone a hard nail means they are 'very tough' and 'difficult to influence'.