Hard
[hɑːd] or [hɑrd]
Definition
(adj.) dried out; 'hard dry rolls left over from the day before' .
(adj.) unfortunate or hard to bear; 'had hard luck'; 'a tough break' .
(adj.) resisting weight or pressure .
(adj.) dispassionate; 'took a hard look'; 'a hard bargainer'; .
(adj.) (of speech sounds); produced with the back of the tongue raised toward or touching the velum; 'Russian distinguished between hard consonants and palatalized or soft consonants' .
(adj.) (of light) transmitted directly from a pointed light source .
(adj.) being distilled rather than fermented; having a high alcoholic content; 'hard liquor' .
(adj.) very strong or vigorous; 'strong winds'; 'a hard left to the chin'; 'a knockout punch'; 'a severe blow' .
(adv.) with effort or force or vigor; 'the team played hard'; 'worked hard all day'; 'pressed hard on the lever'; 'hit the ball hard'; 'slammed the door hard'.
(adv.) to the full extent possible; all the way; 'hard alee'; 'the ship went hard astern'; 'swung the wheel hard left'.
(adv.) slowly and with difficulty; 'prejudices die hard'.
(adv.) causing great damage or hardship; 'industries hit hard by the depression'; 'she was severely affected by the bank's failure'.
(adv.) with firmness; 'held hard to the railing'.
(adv.) earnestly or intently; 'thought hard about it'; 'stared hard at the accused'.
(adv.) with pain or distress or bitterness; 'he took the rejection very hard'.
(adv.) very near or close in space or time; 'it stands hard by the railroad tracks'; 'they were hard on his heels'; 'a strike followed hard upon the plant's opening'.
Typed by Denis--From WordNet
Definition
(superl.) Not easily penetrated, cut, or separated into parts; not yielding to pressure; firm; solid; compact; -- applied to material bodies, and opposed to soft; as, hard wood; hard flesh; a hard apple.
(superl.) Difficult, mentally or judicially; not easily apprehended, decided, or resolved; as a hard problem.
(superl.) Difficult to accomplish; full of obstacles; laborious; fatiguing; arduous; as, a hard task; a disease hard to cure.
(superl.) Difficult to resist or control; powerful.
(superl.) Difficult to bear or endure; not easy to put up with or consent to; hence, severe; rigorous; oppressive; distressing; unjust; grasping; as, a hard lot; hard times; hard fare; a hard winter; hard conditions or terms.
(superl.) Difficult to please or influence; stern; unyielding; obdurate; unsympathetic; unfeeling; cruel; as, a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character.
(superl.) Not easy or agreeable to the taste; stiff; rigid; ungraceful; repelling; as, a hard style.
(superl.) Rough; acid; sour, as liquors; as, hard cider.
(superl.) Abrupt or explosive in utterance; not aspirated, sibilated, or pronounced with a gradual change of the organs from one position to another; -- said of certain consonants, as c in came, and g in go, as distinguished from the same letters in center, general, etc.
(superl.) Wanting softness or smoothness of utterance; harsh; as, a hard tone.
(superl.) Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.
(superl.) Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in the coloring or light and shade.
(adv.) With pressure; with urgency; hence, diligently; earnestly.
(adv.) With difficulty; as, the vehicle moves hard.
(adv.) Uneasily; vexatiously; slowly.
(adv.) So as to raise difficulties.
(adv.) With tension or strain of the powers; violently; with force; tempestuously; vehemently; vigorously; energetically; as, to press, to blow, to rain hard; hence, rapidly; as, to run hard.
(adv.) Close or near.
(v. t.) To harden; to make hard.
(n.) A ford or passage across a river or swamp.
Checked by Edwin
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Firm, solid, compact, impenetrable, unyielding, not soft.[2]. Difficult, embarrassing, perplexing, puzzling, knotty, intricate, not easily understood.[3]. Laborious, arduous, toilsome, fatiguing, wearying.[4]. Unfeeling, unkind, insensible, unsusceptible, cruel, oppressive, rigorous, severe, unyielding, inflexible, callous, obdurate, hard-hearted.[5]. Grievous, distressing, calamitous, painful, disagreeable, unpleasant.[6]. Inclement, stormy, tempestuous, cold.[7]. Harsh, rough, sour, acid.[8]. Coarse, unpalatable.[9]. Unfavorable, unprosperous, unpropitious.[10]. Stiff, constrained, forced, unnatural, ungraceful.[11]. Excessive, intemperate.
ad. [1]. Close, near.[2]. Laboriously, diligently, earnestly, incessantly, energetically.[3]. With difficulty, not easily.[4]. Distressfully, painfully, severely, rigorously.[5]. Vehemently, forcibly, violently.
Inputed by Bruno
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Firm, dense, solid, compact, unyielding, impenetrable, arduous, difficult,grievous, distressing, rigorous, oppressive, exacting, unfeeling, stubborn,harsh, forced, constrained, inexplicable, flinty, severe, {[cmel]?}, obdurate,hardened, callous
ANT:Soft, fluid, liquid, elastic, brittle, penetrable, easy, mild, lenient, tender,ductile, uninvolved, simple, intelligible, perspicuous
Typed by Claire
Definition
adj. not easily penetrated firm solid: difficult to understand or accomplish: violent vehement: rigorous: close earnest industrious: coarse scanty: stingy niggardly: difficult to bear painful: unjust: difficult to please: unfeeling: severe: stiff: constrained: intractable resistant in some use as water &c.: strong spirituous: (of silk) without having the natural gum boiled off: surd or breathed as opposed to sonant or voiced.—n. a firm beach or foreshore: hard labour.—adv. with urgency vigour &c.: earnestly forcibly: with difficulty: close near as in Hard by.—adv. Hard-a-lee close to the lee-side &c.—adj. Hard′-and-fast′ rigidly laid down and adhered to.—adv. Hard aport! a command instructing the helmsman to turn the tiller to the left or port side of the ship thus causing the ship to swerve to the right or starboard.—ns. Hard′-bake a sweetmeat made of boiled sugar and almonds; Hard′beam the hornbeam.—adjs. Hard′-billed having a hard bill or beak—of birds; Hard′-bitt′en given to hard biting tough in fight; Hard′-cured cured thoroughly as fish by drying in the sun.—n. Hard′-drink′er a constant drunkard.—adj. Hard′-earned earned with toil or difficulty.—v.t. Hard′en to make hard or harder: to make firm: to strengthen: to confirm in wickedness: to make insensible.—v.i. to become hard or harder either lit. or fig.—adj. Hard′ened made hard unfeeling.—n. Hard′ener.—adj. Hard′-fav′oured having coarse features.—n. Hard′-fav′ouredness.—adj. Hard′-feat′ured of hard coarse or forbidding features.—n. Hard′-feat′uredness.—adjs. Hard′-fist′ed having hard or strong fists or hands: close-fisted: niggardly; Hard′-fought sorely contested; Hard′-gott′en obtained with difficulty; Hard′-grained having a close firm grain: uninviting.—n. Hard′-hack the steeple-bush an erect shrub of the rose family with rose-coloured or white flowers.—adjs. Hard′-hand′ed having hard hands: rough: severe; Hard′-head′ed shrewd intelligent; Hard′-heart′ed having a hard or unfeeling heart: cruel.—adv. Hard′-heart′edly.—n. Hard′-heart′edness.—adj. Hard′ish somewhat hard.—n. Hard′-lā′bour labour imposed on certain classes of criminals during their imprisonment.—adv. Hard′ly with difficulty: scarcely not quite: severely harshly.—adj. Hard′-mouthed having a mouth hard or insensible to the bit: not easily managed.—n. Hard′-pan the hard detritus often underlying the superficial soil: the lowest level.—adjs. Hard′-ruled (Shak.) ruled with difficulty; Hard′-run greatly pressed; Hard′-set beset by difficulty: rigid; Hard′-shell having a hard shell: rigidly orthodox.—ns. Hard′ship a hard state or that which is hard to bear as toil injury &c.; Hard′-tack ship-biscuit.—adj. Hard′-vis′aged of a hard coarse or forbidding visage.—ns. Hard′ware trade name for all sorts of articles made of the baser metals such as iron or copper; Hard′wareman.—adj. Hard′-won won with toil and difficulty.—n.pl. Hard′wood-trees forest trees of comparatively slow growth producing compact hard timber as oak ash elm walnut beech birch &c.—Hard hit seriously hurt as by a loss of money: deeply smitten with love; Hard lines a hard lot; Hard metal an alloy of two parts of copper with one of tin for gun metal; Hard money money emphatically prop. coin; Hard of hearing pretty deaf; Hard swearing swearing (as a witness) persistently to what is false perjury; Hard up short of money.—Be hard put to it to be in great straits or difficulty; Die hard to die only after a desperate struggle for life.
Editor: Nell
Examples
- Yet it was a hard time for sensitive, high-spirited Jo, who meant so well and had apparently done so ill. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- For instance, if he took his supper after a hard day, to the Dead March in Saul, his food might be likely to sit heavy on him. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- They have a kind of hard flints, which, by grinding against other stones, they form into instruments, that serve instead of wedges, axes, and hammers. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- A hard-working man, and not overstrong, he would return to his home from the machine-shop where he was employed, and throw himself on the bed night after night to rest. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- The manifest advantage of an even track for the wheels long ago suggested the idea of laying down wood and other hard, smooth surfaces for carriages to run upon. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- A cocoanut shell always has a soft spot at one end because this is the provision nature has made to allow the embryo of the future tree to push its way out of the hard shell. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Even if water is only moderately hard, much soap is lost. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- You work hard at your learning, I know. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The gal's manners is dreadful vulgar; and the boy breathes so very hard while he's eating, that we found it impossible to sit at table with him. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Have you found your first day's work harder than you expected? Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- That she had chosen to move away from him in this moment of her trouble made everything harder to say, but he must absolutely go on. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- He knows that it's hard to keep the mud off the crossing in dirty weather, and harder still to live by doing it. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Gold is seldom used for any purpose in a state of perfect purity on account of its softness, but is combined with some other metal to render it harder. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Some of the new metals discovered in the last century have in this century been combined with iron to make harder steel. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Except that it is rather harder now, Venn continued. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- But Scipio Africanus lacked that harder alloy which makes men great democratic leaders. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The strength of the blow depends on the hardness of the metal, and when one part is harder than another the workman alters his blows accordingly. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Yet the very vogue of the electric arc light made harder the arrival of the incandescent. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- It will be harder to read now than that palimpsest. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- I am sure you had no share in it, or in the cruel suspicions of Mr. Osborne, which are the hardest of all our griefs to bear. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- I doubt whether Chettam would not have been more severe, and yet he comes down on me as if I were the hardest man in the county. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I can laugh at it as bitterly as the hardest man who tosses it from him in contempt. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- McClernand was next to Sherman, and the hardest fighting was in front of these two divisions. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- I would have been his servant or his slave, and lived on one of his smiles for a week, as a reward for the hardest labour. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- The diamond is the hardest known substance in the world, cutting and grinding all other known hard things, but itself only cut and ground by its mates. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Upon my word, I think the truth is the hardest missile one can be pelted with. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- He tries to do it; he says he'll bring me down and humble me, and he puts me to just the hardest, meanest and dirtiest work, on purpose! Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- It always seemed to him that words were the hardest part of business. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- But one of the hardest domestic tasks is that of keeping the house clean. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
Typed by Doreen