hard
adjective
1. not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
- why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?
Similar word(s): demanding, ambitious, challenging, arduous, awkward, embarrassing, sticky, unenviable, baffling, elusive, knotty, problematic, problematical, tough, catchy, tricky, delicate, ticklish, touchy, fractious, herculean, nasty, tight, rocky, rough, rugged, serious, tall, thorny, troublesome, trying, vexed, effortful, hard, difficult
2. dispassionate
- took a hard look
- a hard bargainer
Similar word(s): difficult, hard, calculating, calculative, conniving, scheming, shrewd, hardened, steely, merciless, unmerciful, insensitive, tough
3. resisting weight or pressure
Similar word(s): adamantine, corneous, hornlike, horny, erect, tumid, firm, solid, granitelike, granitic, rocklike, stony, hardened, set, woody, petrous, stonelike, semihard, steely, unyielding
4. very strong or vigorous
- a hard left to the chin
Similar word(s): strong, knockout, severe
5. characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort
- hard labor
Similar word(s): effortful, arduous, backbreaking, grueling, gruelling, heavy, laborious, operose, punishing, toilsome
6. produced without vibration of the vocal cords
Similar word(s): whispered, surd, unvoiced, voiceless
7. (of light) transmitted directly from a pointed light source
Similar word(s): concentrated
8. (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
Similar word(s): velar
9. given to excessive indulgence of bodily appetites especially for intoxicating liquors
- a hard drinker
Similar word(s): indulgent, heavy, intemperate
10. being distilled rather than fermented; having a high alcoholic content
- hard liquor
Similar word(s): alcoholic, strong
11. unfortunate or hard to bear
- had hard luck
12. dried out
- hard dry rolls left over from the day before
Similar word(s): stale
Sentences with hard as an adjective:
- This bread is so stale and hard, I can barely cut it.
- a hard problem
- a hard life
- a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character
- don't be so hard on yourself
- hard evidence
- At the intersection, there are two roads going to the left. Take the hard left.
- There is a hard c in "clock" and a soft c in "centre".
- Hard k, t, s, ch, as distinguished from soft, g, d, z, j
- We need both a digital archive and a hard archive.
adverb
1. with effort or force or vigor
- the team played hard
- worked hard all day
- pressed hard on the lever
2. with firmness
- held hard to the railing
Similar word(s): firmly
3. earnestly or intently
- thought hard about it
- stared hard at the accused
4. causing great damage or hardship
- industries hit hard by the depression
Similar word(s): severely
5. slowly and with difficulty
- prejudices die hard
- he was so dizzy he could hardly stand up straight
Similar word(s): hardly
6. indulging excessively
Similar word(s): heavily, intemperately
7. into a solid condition
- concrete that sets hard within a few hours
8. 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
9. with pain or distress or bitterness
- he took the rejection very hard
10. to the full extent possible; all the way
- hard alee
- the ship went hard astern
- swung the wheel hard left
Sentences with hard as an adverb:
- He hit the puck hard up the ice.
- They worked hard all week.
- At the intersection, bear hard left.
- The recession hit them especially hard.
- Think hard about your choices.
- His degree was hard earned.
- The vehicle moves hard.
- The lake had finally frozen hard.
noun
1. (nautical) A firm or paved beach or slope convenient for hauling vessels out of the water.
2. (drugs, colloquial, slang) crack cocaine.