tough 1 S2 W2 / tʌf / 形容词 ( comparative tougher , superlative toughest )

1 difficult difficult to do or deal with :

It was a tough race.

She’s had a tough life.

The company admitted that it had been a tough year.

Tough decisions will have to be made.

The reporters were asking a lot of tough questions .

have a tough time (of it) (= face a lot of difficult problems )

The family has had a tough time of it these last few months.

it’s tough doing something

It’s tough being married to a cop.

be tough on somebody (= cause problems for someone or make their life difficult )

Having to stay indoors all day is tough on a kid.

It was a tough call (= a difficult decision ) , but we had to cancel the game because of the weather.

I find his books pretty tough going (= difficult to read ) .

Gage predicted the president’s proposal would be a tough sell (= something that is difficult to persuade someone about ) before Congress. American English

when the going gets tough (the tough get going) informal (= used to say that when a situation becomes difficult, strong people take the necessary action to deal with it )

2 strong person physically or emotionally strong and able to deal with difficult situations :

The men who work on the oil rigs are a tough bunch.

tough cookie/customer informal (= someone who is very determined to do what they want and not what other people want )

as tough as nails/as tough as old boots (= very tough )

He’s as tough as nails – a good man to have on the team.

3 strong material not easily broken or made weaker :

tough, durable plastic

a very tough, hard-wearing cloth

4 strict/firm very strict or firm

tough on/with

My mother was very tough on my sister.

It’s time to get tough with drunk drivers.

The EU is taking a tough line with the UK over this issue.

5 violent area a tough part of a town has a lot of crime or violence

tough neighborhood/area/part of town etc

a tough area of Chicago

6 tough!/that’s tough! spoken used when you do not have any sympathy with someone :

‘I’m getting wet.’ ‘Tough! You should’ve brought your umbrella.’

She didn’t tell us she was coming, so if this screws up her plans that’s just tough.

7 tough luck! spoken

a) used when you do not have any sympathy for someone’s problems :

Well, that’s just their tough luck! It was their mistake.

b) British English used when you feel sympathy about something bad that has happened to someone :

You didn’t get the job? Oh, tough luck!

8 tough shit! spoken not polite used when you do not have any sympathy for someone’s problems

9 violent person likely to behave violently and having no gentle qualities :

one of football’s most notorious tough guys

tough young thugs looking for trouble

10 food difficult to cut or eat 反义词 tender :

The meat was tough and hard to chew.

the tough outer leaves of the cabbage

11 tough love a way of helping someone to change their behaviour by treating them in a kind but strict way

— toughly 副词

— toughness 名词 [不可数名词]