hard

(noun, adjective, adverb)

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

Similar word(s): bad, tough

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.