hard definition

English hard definition

Etymology

From Middle English hard, from Old English heard, from Proto-West Germanic *hard(ī), from Proto-Germanic *harduz, from Proto-Indo-European *kort-ús, from *kret- (“strong, powerful”). Cognate with German hart, Swedish hård, Ancient Greek κρατύς (kratús), Sanskrit क्रतु (krátu), Avestan 𐬑𐬭𐬀𐬙𐬎‎ (xratu).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: häd, IPA^(key): /hɑːd/
• (General American) enPR: härd, IPA^(key): /hɑɹd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)d

Adjective

hard (comparative harder, superlative hardest)

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 or drugs) Strong.
   3. (of a normally nonalcoholic drink) Containing alcohol.

      hard cider, hard lemonade, hard seltzer, hard soda

   4. (of water) High in dissolved chemical salts, especially those of calcium.
   5. (physics, of a ferromagnetic material) Having the capability of being a permanent magnet by being a material with high magnetic coercivity (compare soft).
   6. (photography, of light) Made up of parallel rays, producing clearly defined shadows.
2. (personal or social) Having a severe property; presenting difficulty.
   1. Difficult or requiring a lot of effort to do, understand, experience, or deal with.

      a hard problem;  a hard question;  a hard topic

      • 1988, An Oracle, Edmund White

        Ray 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.

      • 2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32:

        The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters such as ostrich, wild boar and crocodile.

   2. Demanding a lot of effort to endure.

      a hard life

   3. Severe, harsh, unfriendly, brutal.

      a hard master;  a hard heart;  hard words;  a hard character

      The senator asked the party chief to put the hard word on his potential rivals.

      • 1730, Henry Fielding, Rape upon Rape, Act 4, Scene 7:

        Leave off fornicating; leave the girls to the boys, and stand to thy bottle; it is a virtue becoming our years; and don’t be too hard on a wild honest young rake.

   4. (dated) Difficult to resist or control; powerful.
      • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], OCLC 228727523:

        The stag was too hard for the horse.

      • 2021 March 23, Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 24. Tuesday, March 12. [2021.] [Julian calendar]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, OCLC 1056445272:

        a power which will be always too hard for them

   5. (military) Hardened; having unusually strong defences.

      a hard site

3. Unquestionable, unequivocal.

   hard evidence;  a hard requirement

   • 1796, The History of the Trial of Warren Hastings‎^[1]:

     […] 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.

   • 1962, The Selling Power of a Woman‎^[2]:

     Here are a few techniques to turn a hard "no" into an easy "yes"!

   • 2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in The Guardian:

     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.

4. (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.

5. (slang, vulgar, of a male) Sexually aroused; having an erect penis.

   I got so hard watching two hot guys wrestle each other on the beach.

6. (bodybuilding) Having muscles that are tightened as a result of intense, regular exercise.
7. (phonetics, not comparable)
   1. Plosive.

      There is a hard c in "clock" and a soft c in "centre".

   2. Unvoiced

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

   3. Velarized or plain, rather than palatalized

      The letter ж (ž) in Russian is always hard.

8. (art) 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.
9. (not comparable)
   1. In a physical form, not digital.

      a soft or hard copy ; a digital or hard archive

   2. Using a manual or physical process, not by means of a software command.

      a hard reboot or reset

10. (politics) Far, extreme.

    hard right, hard left

11. Of silk: not having had the natural gum boiled off.

Synonyms

• (resistant to pressure): resistant, solid, stony, see also Thesaurus:hard
• (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
• See also Thesaurus:difficult

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
• (phonetics, all senses): soft

Derived terms

Pages starting with “hard”.

Related terms

• hardpeer
• hardy

Descendants

• → Finnish: haarti

Translations

Adverb

hard (comparative harder, superlative hardest)

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.

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Wife of Bath's Tale”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 228732415:

     prayed so hard for mercy from the prince

   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III, Scene i^[3]:

     […] My father / Is hard at study. Pray now, rest yourself;

   • 1985, Michael A. Arbib, In search of the person: philosophical explorations in cognitive science, page 119:

     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.

3. (obsolete) So as to raise difficulties.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A. Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], OCLC 152706203:

     The question is hard set.

4. (manner) Compactly.

   The lake had finally frozen hard.

5. (now archaic) Near, close.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Acts 18:7:

     […] whose house joined hard to the synagogue.

   • 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, page 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.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

hard (countable and uncountable, plural hards)

1. (countable, nautical) A firm or paved beach or slope convenient for hauling vessels out of the water.
   • 1952, Edward John Barrington Douglas-Scott-Montagu Baron Montagu, Beaulieu, the Abbey, Palace House, and Buckler's Hard (page 36)

     The Monastery's ironworks at Sowley were renowned for centuries but declined with the passing of the 'wooden walls' at Buckler's Hard — a great number of these ships having been built with timber from the Beaulieu Woods […]

2. (countable, motorsports) A tyre whose compound is softer than superhards, and harder than mediums.
3. (uncountable, drugs, slang) Crack cocaine.
4. (uncountable, slang) Hard labor.

   The prisoners were sentenced to three years' hard.

Anagrams

• Dhar

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Dutch hard definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɦɑrt/

• hard

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hard
• Rhymes: -ɑrt
• Homophone: hart

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch hart, from Old Dutch hart, from Proto-West Germanic *hard(ī), from Proto-Germanic *harduz.

Adjective

hard (comparative harder, superlative hardst)

1. hard, strong

   Antonym: zacht

2. (economics, of a currency) strong, not easily devalued
3. unquestionable, uncontestable

   harde feiten

   hard facts

4. heartless, unsympathetic (of a person)

   Antonym: zacht

5. hard, difficult

   een harde strijd

   a difficult fight

6. harsh, heavy

   harde straffen

   harsh punishments

   een harde regen

   heavy rain

7. hard, rich in calcium (of water)

   Antonym: zacht

8. loud (of sound)

   Synonym: luid

   Antonym: zacht

Inflection

Inflection of hard
uninflected	hard
inflected	harde
comparative	harder
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		hard	harder	het hardst het hardste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	harde	hardere	hardste
	n. sing.	hard	harder	hardste
	plural	harde	hardere	hardste
definite		harde	hardere	hardste
partitive		hards	harders	—

Derived terms

• hardheid
• hardlopen

Descendants

• Negerhollands: hart
• Skepi Creole Dutch: hardt

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adverb

hard

1. (speed) fast, swiftly

   Ik heb een bekeuring gekregen omdat ik te hard heb gereden.

   I got a ticket because I drove too fast.

2. very
3. loudly

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

hard

1. first-person singular present indicative of harden
2. imperative of harden

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French hard definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English hard.

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /aʁd/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

hard (plural hards)

1. (of pornography) hardcore

   Des photos hards.

   Hardcore pictures.

Noun

hard m (plural hards)

1. hardcore pornography

   Le Journal du hard est une émission de Canal + dédiée au cinéma pornographique.

   Le Journal du hard ("Hard Porn News") is a broadcast by Canal+ dedicated to pornographic films.

2. hard rock

   Elle adore le hard et le headbang.

   She just loves hard rock and headbanging.

   • 2004, Thomas Mansier, Identité du rock et presse spécialisée. Évolution d'une culture et de son discours critique dans les magazines français des années 90, page 98.

     Le hard semble ainsi capable de remplir le contrat originel du rock.

     As such, hard rock seems capable of fulfilling the original purpose of rock.

   • 2014, Christian Eudeline, "Uriah Heep. Look At Yourself", in Du hard rock au métal. Les 100 albums cultes, Gründ (publ.).

     Au croisement du hard et du prog, Uriah Heep […] enregistre là son meilleur disque, pourtant, leurs paroles pseudo-lyriques et leurs envolées déplaisaient.

     At the crossroads of hard rock and prog rock, Uriah Heep […] records its best disc there; however, their pseudo-lyrical texts and their take-offs were disliked.

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Irish hard definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [haːɾˠd̪ˠ]

Adjective

hard

1. h-prothesized form of ard

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Norwegian Bokmål hard definition

Etymology

From Old Norse harðr, from Proto-Germanic *harduz.

Adjective

hard (neuter singular hardt, definite singular and plural harde, comparative hardere, indefinite superlative hardest, definite superlative hardeste)

1. hard (not soft)
2. hard, stern, severe
3. hardy

Derived terms

• beinhard
• hardhet
• hardkokt
• hardtslående

Related terms

• forherde
• herde

References

• “hard” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk hard definition

Etymology

From Old Norse harðr, from Proto-Germanic *harduz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɑːr/, /hɑːɽ/ (example of pronunciation)
• Homophone: har

Adjective

hard (masculine and feminine hard, neuter hardt, definite singular and plural harde, comparative hardare, indefinite superlative hardast, definite superlative hardaste)

1. hard
2. hard, stern, severe
3. hardy

Derived terms

• beinhard
• hardkokt

References

• “hard” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Old Saxon hard definition

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *hard(ī).

Adjective

hard (comparative hardiro, superlative hardist)

1. hard

Declension

Derived terms

• hardī

Descendants

• Low German: hard, hart (inflected hart-)

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Spanish hard definition

Etymology

From English hard.

Adjective

hard (invariable)

1. hard, heavy, hardcore