5. (adj)rugged, tough very difficult; severely testingstamina or resolution "a rugged competitive examination"; "the rugged conditions of frontier life"; "the competition was tough"; "it's a tough life"; "it was a tough job"
6. (adj)tough, toughened physically toughened
"the tough bottoms of his feet"
7. (adj)sturdy, tough substantially made or constructed
"sturdy steel shelves"; "sturdy canvas"; "a tough all-weather fabric"; "some plastics are as tough as metal"
8. (adj)ruffianly, tough violent and lawless
"the more ruffianly element"; "tough street gangs"
9. (adj)bad, tough feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad')
"my throat feels bad"; "she felt bad all over"; "he was feeling tough after a restless night"
11. (adj)hard, tough unfortunate or hard to bear "had hard luck"; "a tough break"
12. (adj)baffling, elusive, knotty, problematic, problematical, tough makinggreat mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe
"a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home"
Definitions of 'tough':
