Hard

Pronunciation

• RP enPR: häd, IPA: /hɑːd/
• GenAm enPR: häd, IPA: /hɑɹd/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)d
• Homophones: heart in some dialects

Origin

From Middle English, from Old English heard ("hard"), from Proto-Germanic *harduz, from Proto-Indo-European *kert-, *kret- ("strong; powerful"). Cognate with West Frisian hurd, Dutch hard, Low German hard, hart, German hart, Danish hård.

Full definition of hard

Adjective

1. (of material or fluid) Having a severe property; presenting difficulty.
1. Resistant to pressure.
   This bread is so stale and hard, I can barely cut it.
2. (of drink) Strong.
3. (of water) High in dissolved calcium compounds.
4. (physics, of a ferromagnetic material) Having the capability of being a permanent magnet by being a material with high magnetic coercivity (compare soft).
2. (personal or social) Having a severe property; presenting difficulty.
1. Requiring a lot of effort to do or understand.
   a hard problem
• 1988, An Oracle, Edmund WhiteRay found it hard to imagine having accumulated so many mannerisms before the dawn of sex, of the sexual need to please, of the staginess sex encourages or the tightly capped wells of poisoned sexual desire the disappointed must stand guard over.

1. Demanding a lot of effort to endure.
   a hard life
2. Severe, harsh, unfriendly, brutal.
   a hard master;  a hard heart;  hard words;  a hard character
3. (dated) Difficult to resist or control; powerful.
• Roger L'Estrange (1616-1704)The stag was too hard for the horse.
• Joseph Addison (1672-1719)a power which will be always too hard for them
1. Unquestionable.
   hard evidence
• 2011, December 19, Kerry Brown, Kim Jong-il obituary, Unsurprisingly for a man who went into mourning for three years after the death in 1994 of his own father, the legendary leader Kim Il-sung, and who in the first 30 years of his political career made no public statements, even to his own people, Kim's career is riddled with claims, counter claims, speculation, and contradiction. There are few hard facts about his birth and early years.
2. (of a road intersection) Having a comparatively larger or a ninety-degree angle.
   At the intersection, there are two roads going to the left. Take the hard left.
3. (slang, vulgar, of a male) Sexually aroused.
   I got so hard watching two hot girls wrestle each other on the beach.
4. (bodybuilding) Having muscles that are tightened as a result of intense, regular exercise.
5. (phonetics) Plosive.
   There is a hard c in "clock" and a soft c in "centre".
6. (arts) Having a severe property; presenting a barrier to enjoyment.
1. Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.
2. Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in colour or shading.

Synonyms

• (resistant to pressure): resistant, solid, stony
• (requiring a lot of effort to do or understand): confusing, difficult, puzzling, tough, tricky
• (requiring a lot of effort to endure): difficult, intolerable, tough, unbearable
• (severe): harsh, hostile, severe, strict, tough, unfriendly
• (unquestionable): incontrovertible, indubitable, unambiguous, unequivocal, unquestionable
• (of drink): strong

Antonyms

• (resistant to pressure): soft
• (requiring a lot of effort to do or understand): easy, simple, straightforward, trite
• (requiring a lot of effort to endure): bearable, easy
• (severe): agreeable, amiable, approachable, friendly, nice, pleasant
• (unquestionable): controvertible, doubtful, ambiguous, equivocal, questionable
• (of drink):
• (low in alcohol): low-alcohol
• (non-alcoholic): alcohol-free, soft, non-alcoholic
• (of roads) soft
• ("sexually aroused"): soft, flaccid

Derived terms

Adverb

1. (manner) With much force or effort.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.
• Drydenprayed so hard for mercy from the prince
• ShakespeareMy father
  Is hard at study; pray now, rest yourself.
• 1985, w, In search of the person: philosophical explorations in cognitive science, What, then, of the voluntarist's sense that one often has to think long and hard before making agonizing choices?
2. (manner) With difficulty.His degree was hard earned.The vehicle moves hard.
3. (obsolete) So as to raise difficulties.
• Sir Thomas BrowneThe question is hard set.
4. (manner) Compactly.The lake had finally frozen hard.
5. (now archaic) Near, close.
• Bible, Acts xviii. 7whose house joined hard to the synagogue
• 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, p. 418:It was another long day's march before they glimpsed the towers of Harrenhal in the distance, hard beside the blue waters of the lake.

Noun

1. (nautical) A firm or paved beach or slope convenient for hauling vessels out of the water