| Share



Pronunciation: (härd), [key]
adj., -er, -est,
adv., -er, -est,

1. not soft; solid and firm to the touch; unyielding to pressure and impenetrable or almost impenetrable.
2. firmly formed; tight: a hard knot.
3. difficult to do or accomplish; fatiguing; troublesome: a hard task.
8. vigorous or violent in force; severe: a hard rain; a hard fall.
9. bad; unendurable; unbearable: hard luck.
10. oppressive; harsh; rough: hard treatment.
11. austere; severe: a hard winter; the hard times of the Great Depression.
13. difficult to explain away; undeniable: hard facts.
14. that can be verified; factual, as distinguished from speculation or hearsay: hard information.
15. harsh or unfriendly; resentful; severe; bitter: hard feelings; hard words.
16. of stern judgment or close examination; searching: a hard look.
17. lacking delicacy or softness; not blurred or diffused; clear and distinct; sharp; harsh: a hard line; a hard, bright light; hard features; a hard face.
18. (of a photograph) contrasty.
19. severe or rigorous in terms: a hard bargain.
20. sternly realistic; dispassionate; unsentimental: a hard, practical man; a hard view of life.
21. incorrigible; disreputable; tough: a hard character.
22. Scot. and North Eng.niggardly; stingy.
27. (of alcoholic beverages)
a. containing more than 22.5 percent alcohol by volume, as whiskey and brandy as opposed to beer and wine.
b. strong because of fermentation; intoxicating: hard cider.
28. (of wine) tasting excessively of tannin.
31. (of bread and baked goods)
a. having a firm, crisp crust or texture: hard rolls.
b. stale or tough.
32. (of a fabric) having relatively little nap; smooth: Silk is a harder fabric than wool or cotton.
33. (of the landing of a rocket or space vehicle) executed without decelerating: a hard landing on the moon. Cf. soft (def. 28).
36. Mil.being underground and strongly protected from nuclear bombardment.
37. Agric.noting wheats with high gluten content, milled for a bread flour as contrasted with pastry flour.
38. Phonet.
a. fortis.
c. (of consonants in Slavic languages) not palatalized. Cf. soft (def. 26).
39. (in the making of rope) noting a lay having a considerable angle to the axis of the rope; short.
40. Physics.(of a beam of particles or photons) having relatively high energy: hard x-rays. Cf. soft (def. 29).
41. (of the penis) erect.
42. hard of hearing. See hearing-impaired.
43. hard up, Informal.
a. urgently in need of money.
b. feeling a lack or need: The country is hard up for technicians and doctors.

1. with great exertion; with vigor or violence; strenuously: to work hard; to try hard.
3. harshly or severely.
6. in a deeply affected manner; with genuine sorrow or remorse: She took it very hard when they told her of his death.
7. closely; immediately: Failure and defeat seemed hard at hand. The decision to ban students from the concerts followed hard on the heels of the riot.
8. to an unreasonable or extreme degree; excessively; immoderately: He's hitting the bottle pretty hard.
9. Naut.closely, fully, or to the extreme limit: hard aport; hard alee.
10. be hard on, to deal harshly with; be stern: You are being too hard on him.
11. hard by,in close proximity to; near: The house is hard by the river.
12. hard put, in great perplexity or difficulty; at a loss: We were hard put to finish the examination in one hour.

1. Naut.a firm or paved beach or slope convenient for hauling vessels out of the water.
2. Brit.
a. a firm or solid beach or foreshore.
b. a firm landing, jetty, or road across or adjoining the foreshore.
3. Brit. Slang.See hard labor.


See also:


Related Content