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| hard [ haard ] |
adjective (comparative hard·er, superlative hard·est) |
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1. not easily bent: firm, stiff, or rigid, and not easily cut, pierced, or bent
  a hard mattress
Do not move the object until the glue is hard.
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2. difficult or awkward: difficult or awkward to do or achieve
a hard decision
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3. involving effort: involving a great deal of mental or physical effort or exertion
a hard climb
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4. performing energetically: doing something with energy or industriousness
a hard worker
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5. mighty: using a lot of force or violence
a hard tug on the rope
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6. demanding and strict: making inflexible and heavy demands
a hard taskmaster
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7. problematic: difficult to endure and full of problems
a hard life
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8. unsympathetic: showing little or no sympathy, compassion, or gentleness
She's as hard as nails.
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9. resentful: marked by resentment or bitterness
no hard feelings
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10. real or true: demonstrably real, true, or certain
cold hard facts
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11. difficult to understand: difficult to understand or explain
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12. politics radical: politically radical or extreme
the hard left
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13. severe: marked by weather conditions such as extreme cold or severe storms
a hard winter
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14. toughened: rough or leathery, and unyielding
hard skin
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15. chemistry containing mineral salts: containing mineral salts and preventing soap from lathering well
hard water
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16. penetrating: seeming to penetrate and discover intentions or thoughts
a hard stare
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17. firm or crisp in texture: having a crisp, firm, or stale crust or texture
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18. erect: stiff and erect
(
informal
)
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19. physics easily able to penetrate substances: describes radiation, especially high frequency X-rays, that has a high energy and is thus easily able to penetrate substances including metals, or relating to this type of radiation
hard vacuum
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20. beverages high in alcohol: describes beverages that have a high alcoholic content, especially alcohol produced by distillation
hard liquor
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21. drugs addictive and dangerous to health: describes drugs that are highly addictive and particularly dangerous to the health
hard drugs
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22. phonetics pronounced like "k" or "g": describes the consonants "c" and "g" when they are pronounced with a "k" sound, as in "come," and a "g" sound, as in "go."
See also softadj (sense 24)
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adverb (comparative hard·er, superlative hard·est) |
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| Definition: |
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1. forcefully: with a lot of force
hit the ball hard
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2. all the way: to the greatest degree or extent
pulled the truck over hard
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3. energetically: with vigor and energy or industriousness
worked hard
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4. with concentration: with great mental concentration
studied hard
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5. with difficulty: with effort and great difficulty
Her victory was hard won.
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6. compactly: into a solid or compact state
set hard
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7. severely: in a way that causes anguish or hardship
hit hard by the recession
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8. slowly: slowly and with difficulty
hatred that dies hard
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| [ Old English heard< Indo-European, "strength"] |
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be hard on somebody
1. to treat somebody severely
2. to be unfortunate for somebody
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be hard put to do something to find it difficult to do something
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go hard with somebody to cause difficulty or distress to somebody (dated)
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hard by close by
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| Word Key: Synonyms |
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hard, difficult, strenuous, tough, arduous, laborious
CORE MEANING: requiring effort or exertion
hard requiring mental or physical effort or exertion;
The work was always hard and sometimes dangerous.
It is hard to imagine Pauline being afraid of anything.
difficult requiring a lot of planning or effort to do, understand, or deal with;
Some of the questions on this paper are too difficult for the children.
Improvements in this area may turn out to be the most difficult to achieve.
strenuous requiring physical effort, energy, stamina, or strength;
strenuous physical activity
The fittest men are involved in the more strenuous tasks, while the less fit do other work.
tough physically or mentally challenging;
Tough decisions await the government, not least over public spending.
It will be tough for him, but I think he'll cope.
arduous requiring hard work or continuous physical effort;
a long and arduous task
He left the comforts of the capital to make the arduous journey north.
laborious requiring much unwelcome, often tedious effort;
slow laborious manual methods
Producing charts and graphs on conventional printers is a very laborious process. |
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