hard Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
    difficult.
    • a difficult task
    • nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access
    • difficult times
    • why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?
  2. adjective dispassionate;
    • took a hard look
    • a hard bargainer
  3. adjective resisting weight or pressure
  4. adjective satellite very strong or vigorous
    knockout; severe.
    • strong winds
    • a hard left to the chin
    • a knockout punch
    • a severe blow
  5. adjective satellite characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort
    heavy; toilsome; grueling; punishing; operose; backbreaking; arduous; gruelling; laborious.
    • worked their arduous way up the mining valley
    • a grueling campaign
    • hard labor
    • heavy work
    • heavy going
    • spent many laborious hours on the project
    • set a punishing pace
  6. adjective produced without vibration of the vocal cords
    voiceless; surd; unvoiced.
    • unvoiced consonants such as `p' and `k' and `s'
  7. adjective (of light) transmitted directly from a pointed light source
    concentrated.
  8. adjective (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
  9. adjective satellite given to excessive indulgence of bodily appetites especially for intoxicating liquors
    heavy; intemperate.
    • a hard drinker
  10. adjective satellite being distilled rather than fermented; having a high alcoholic content
    strong.
    • hard liquor
  11. adjective satellite unfortunate or hard to bear
    tough.
    • had hard luck
    • a tough break
  12. adjective satellite dried out
    • hard dry rolls left over from the day before
  13. adverb with effort or force or vigor
    • the team played hard
    • worked hard all day
    • pressed hard on the lever
    • hit the ball hard
    • slammed the door hard
  14. adverb with firmness
    firmly.
    • held hard to the railing
  15. adverb earnestly or intently
    • thought hard about it
    • stared hard at the accused
  16. adverb causing great damage or hardship
    severely.
    • industries hit hard by the depression
    • she was severely affected by the bank's failure
  17. adverb slowly and with difficulty
    • prejudices die hard
  18. adverb indulging excessively
    intemperately; heavily.
    • he drank heavily
  19. adverb into a solid condition
    • concrete that sets hard within a few hours
  20. adverb 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
  21. adverb with pain or distress or bitterness
    • he took the rejection very hard
  22. adverb to the full extent possible; all the way
    • hard alee
    • the ship went hard astern
    • swung the wheel hard left

WordNet

Hard adjective
Etymology
OE. heard, AS. heard; akin to OS. & D. heard, G. hart, OHG. harti, Icel. harr, Dan. haard, Sw. hård, Goth. hardus, Gr. strong, ,, strength, and also to E. -ard, as in coward, drunkard, -crat, -cracy in autocrat, democracy; cf. Skr. kratu strength, to do, make. Gf.Hardy.
Wordforms
comparative Harder ; superlative Hardest
Definitions
  1. Not easily penetrated, cut, or separated into parts; not yielding to pressure; firm; solid; compact; -- applied to material bodies, and opposed to soft; as, hard wood; hard flesh; a hard apple.
  2. Difficult, mentally or judicially; not easily apprehended, decided, or resolved; as a hard problem.
    The hard causes they brought unto Moses. Ex. xviii. 26.
    In which are some things hard to be understood. 2 Peter iii. 16.
  3. Difficult to accomplish; full of obstacles; laborious; fatiguing; arduous; as, a hard task; a disease hard to cure.
  4. Difficult to resist or control; powerful.
    The stag was too hard for the horse. L'Estrange.
    A power which will be always too hard for them. Addison.
  5. Difficult to bear or endure; not easy to put up with or consent to; hence, severe; rigorous; oppressive; distressing; unjust; grasping; as, a hard lot; hard times; hard fare; a hard winter; hard conditions or terms.
    I never could drive a hard bargain. Burke.
  6. Difficult to please or influence; stern; unyielding; obdurate; unsympathetic; unfeeling; cruel; as, a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character.
  7. Not easy or agreeable to the taste; stiff; rigid; ungraceful; repelling; as, a hard style.
    Figures harder than even the marble itself. Dryden.
  8. Rough; acid; sour, as liquors; as, hard cider.
  9. (Pron.) Abrupt or explosive in utterance; not aspirated, sibilated, or pronounced with a gradual change of the organs from one position to another;- said of certain consonants, as c in came, and g in go, as distinguished from the same letters in center, general, etc.
  10. Wanting softness or smoothness of utterance; harsh; as, a hard tone.
  11. (Painting) (a) Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition. (b) Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in the coloring or light and shade. Syn. -- Solid; arduous; powerful; trying; unyielding; stubborn; stern; flinty; unfeeling; harsh; difficult; severe; obdurate; rigid. See Solid, and Arduous.
Hard adverb
Etymology
OE. harde, AS. hearde.
Definitions
  1. With pressure; with urgency; hence, diligently; earnestly.
    And prayed so hard for mercy from the prince. Dryden.
    My father Is hard at study; pray now, rest yourself. Shak.
  2. With difficulty; as, the vehicle moves hard.
  3. Uneasily; vexatiously; slowly. Shak.
  4. So as to raise difficulties. " The guestion is hard set". Sir T. Browne.
  5. With tension or strain of the powers; violently; with force; tempestuously; vehemently; vigorously; energetically; as, to press, to blow, to rain hard; hence, rapidly; as, to run hard.
  6. Close or near.
    Whose house joined hard to the synagogue. Acts xviii.7.
    ✍ Hard in nautical language is often joined to words of command to the helmsman, denoting that the order should be carried out with the utmost energy, or that the helm should be put, in the direction indicated, to the extreme limit, as, Hard aport! Hard astarboard! Hard alee! Hard aweather up! Hard is also often used in composition with a participle; as, hard-baked; hard-earned; hard-working; hard-won.
Hard transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To harden; to make hard. Obs. Chaucer.
Hard noun
Definitions
  1. A ford or passage across a river or swamp.
Definitions
  1. )

Webster 1913