tough

adjective (STRONG)

/tʌf/

Definition

B2 strong; not easily broken or made weaker or defeated: These toys are made from tough plastic. Children's shoes need to be tough. You have to be tough to be successful in politics.informal Their lawyer is a real tough customer/nut (= person).Physically strong and powerful C2 strong and determined: Tough new safety standards have been introduced for cars. There have been calls for tougher controls/restrictions on what newspapers are allowed to print. After some tough bargaining, we finally agreed on a deal. I think it's time the police got tougher on/with (= treated more severely) people who drink and drive. The government is continuing to take a tough line on terrorism.Strong-willed toughly

/ˈtʌf.li/ adverb › These boots are very toughly (= strongly) made. The newspaper published a toughly worded article about racist behaviour. We live in a toughly competitive world.Physically strong and powerful toughness

/ˈtʌf.nəs/ C2 She has a reputation for toughness (= being strong and determined). They can't face the toughness of the competition.ComplexityDifficult to understandPower and intensityEnergy, force and power

(Definition of tough adjective (STRONG) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

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