hard

adjective34

1. •
   Solid and firm.

   • Luckily she wasn’t there any more, no one was, when he returned from the Caribbean carnival damp-hatted and soaked through after being caught unprepared by a squall of hard, hot rain. — 2001
2. •
   needing great effort to do, to understand or to deal with

   • The stone circle is small and hard to find and the search is made harder because all down the beck cars are parked on the verge and the supposedly unfrequented road up the valley very busy. — 1999
3. •
   Demanding a lot of effort to endure.
4. •
   Resistant to pressure; difficult to break, cut, or penetrate.

   • This bread is so stale and hard, I can barely cut it.
5. •
   Having a severe property; presenting difficulty.
6. •
   Severe, harsh, unfriendly, brutal.

   • hard words
   • The senator asked the party chief to put the hard word on his potential rivals.
7. •
   Unquestionable; unequivocal.

   • […]for, unless supported by hard facts, abusive words would recoil on him who used them, and would pass like empty air over the head of an innocent man. — 1796
8. •
   Strong.
9. •
   Containing alcohol.

   • Stunned, she deleted his number and went home. Then she cracked a hard seltzer, opened her phone’s camera and filmed a TikTok video recounting the evening […]. — 2023
10. •
    In a physical form, not digital.
11. •
    Using a manual or physical process, not by means of a software command.
12. •
    High in dissolved chemical salts, especially those of calcium.
13. •
    Having a comparatively larger or a ninety-degree angle.

    • At the intersection, there are two roads going to the left. Take the hard left.
14. •
    Far, extreme.

    • hard right, hard left
15. •
    Hardcore.
16. •
    (slang) Tough, muscular, badass.

    • He thinks he's well hard.
17. •
    (slang) Excellent, impressive.

    • This song goes hard.
    • This guy always has the hardest fits.
18. •
    (slang, vulgar) Sexually aroused; having an erect penis.

    • I got so hard watching two hot girls wrestle each other on the beach.
19. •
    Having muscles that are tightened as a result of intense, regular exercise.
20. •
    Having a high energy (high frequency; short wavelength).

    • hard X-rays
21. •
    Fortis.
22. •
    Unvoiced.

    • Hard k, t, s, ch, as distinguished from soft, g, d, z, j.
23. •
    Plosive.

    • There is a hard c in "clock" and a soft c in "centre".
24. •
    Hardened; having unusually strong defences.
25. •
    Of a market: having more demand than supply; being a seller's market.

    • Undercapitalized insurers cannot retain more catastrophe risks when the market is hard […] — 2009
26. •
    Having a severe property; presenting a barrier to enjoyment.
27. •
    Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in colour or shading.
28. •
    Very acidic or tannic.

    • While most 1974s remain hard, tannic, hollow wines lacking ripeness, flesh, and character, a number of the Graves estates did produce surprisingly spicy, interesting wines. — 2002
29. •
    (old-fashioned) Difficult to resist or control; powerful.

    • The stag was too hard for the horse. — 1692
30. •
    Having the capability of being a permanent magnet by being a material with high magnetic coercivity (compare soft).
31. •
    Made up of parallel rays, producing clearly defined shadows.
32. •
    Velarized or plain, rather than palatalized.

    • The letter ж (ž) in Russian is always hard.
33. •
    Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.
34. •
    Not having had the natural gum boiled off.

adverb5

1. •
   With much force or effort.

   • He hit the puck hard up the ice.
   • They worked hard all week.
2. •
   With difficulty.

   • His degree was hard earned.
3. •
   Compactly.

   • The lake had finally frozen hard.
4. •
   (no longer used) Near, close.

   • At the intersection, bear hard left.
5. •
   (no longer used) So as to raise difficulties.

   • The question is hard set. — 1650

noun4

1. •
   A tyre whose compound is softer than superhards, and harder than mediums.
2. •
   (slang) Crack cocaine.
3. •
   (slang) Hard labor.

   • The prisoners were sentenced to three years' hard.
4. •
   A firm or paved beach or slope convenient for hauling vessels out of the water.

   • He brought the dinghy up to the careening hard. Two or three boats lay on their sides on the sloping roadway, but there was no sign of life. — 1967

verb1

1. •
   (no longer used) To make hard, harden.

   • He knows vain men: he sees their harts that hard them In Guiles and Wiles, and will not hee regard them? — 1641

adjective1

1. •
   An acronym for remembering desirable characteristics for goal-setting: heartfelt, animated, required, difficult.

   • Unlike achievable and realistic goals that leave you stuck in the status-quo, HARD Goals light up the brain and encourage great performance. — 2017