hard
English
Etymology
From Middle English hard, from Old English heard, 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) Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)d
- Homophone: heart (in some dialects)
Adjective
hard (comparative harder, superlative hardest)
- (of material or fluid) Having a severe property; presenting difficulty.
- Resistant to pressure.
- This bread is so stale and hard, I can barely cut it.
- (of drink or drugs) Strong.
- (of water) High in dissolved chemical salts, especially those of calcium.
- (physics, of a ferromagnetic material) Having the capability of being a permanent magnet by being a material with high magnetic coercivity (compare soft).
- Resistant to pressure.
- (personal or social) Having a severe property; presenting difficulty.
- 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.
- Demanding a lot of effort to endure.
- a hard life
- Severe, harsh, unfriendly, brutal.
- a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character
- don't be so hard on yourself
- (dated) Difficult to resist or control; powerful.
- (Can we date this quote?) Roger L'Estrange
- The stag was too hard for the horse.
- (Can we date this quote?) Joseph Addison
- a power which will be always too hard for them
- (Can we date this quote?) Roger L'Estrange
- Difficult or requiring a lot of effort to do, understand, experience, or deal with.
- Unquestionable.
- hard evidence
- 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.
- (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.
- (slang, vulgar, of a male) Sexually aroused.
- I got so hard watching two hot guys wrestle each other on the beach.
- (bodybuilding) Having muscles that are tightened as a result of intense, regular exercise.
- (phonetics, not comparable)
- Plosive.
- There is a hard c in "clock" and a soft c in "centre".
- Unvoiced
- Hard k, t, s, ch, as distinguished from soft, g, d, z, j.
- Velarized or plain, rather than palatalized
- Plosive.
- (art) Having a severe property; presenting a barrier to enjoyment.
- Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.
- Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in colour or shading.
- (not comparable) In the form of a hard copy.
- We need both a digital archive and a hard archive.
- (politics, Britain) Far, extreme.
- hard right, hard left
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
Derived terms
- between a rock and a hard place
- go hard
- hard-and-fast
- hard as nails
- hard-ass
- hardback
- hardbag
- hardbake
- hardball
- hardboard
- hard-boiled
- hard bop
- hard by
- hard candy
- hard case
- hard cash
- hard cheese
- hard cider
- hard coal
- hard copy
- hard core
- hard-core, hardcore
- hardcourt
- hard disk
- hard drink
- hard drive
- hard edge
- hard-edged
- harden
- hardface
- hard facts
- hard-favored, hard-favoured
- hard-featured
- hard feelings
- hard going
- hard grass
- hardhack
- hard hat
- hard-headed
- hard-head, hardhead
- hard-hearted, hardhearted
- hardish
- hard knocks
- hard labor, hard labour
- hard landing
- hard left
- hard lens
- hard light
- hardline
- hard line
- hard-liner
- hard lines
- hard luck
- hardly
- hard man, hardman
- hard money
- hard-mouthed
- hard neck
- hardness
- hard news
- hard-nosed, hardnosed
- hard of hearing
- hardometer
- hard-on
- hard palate
- hard-pan
- hard power
- hard radiation
- hard right
- hard rock
- hard sauce
- hard science fiction
- hardscrabble
- hard sell
- hard-set
- hardshelled
- hard-shell, hardshell
- hardship
- hard shoulder
- hard standing
- hard stuff
- hard-tack, hardtack
- hardtail
- hard times
- hard to come by
- hardtop
- hard to please
- hard up
- hardware
- hard water
- hardwood
- hard words
- hard yards
- have it hard
- play hard to get
- put the hard word on
- the hard way
Related terms
- hardpeer
- hardy
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Adverb
hard (comparative harder, superlative hardest)
- (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.
- (Can we date this quote?) Dryden
- prayed so hard for mercy from the prince
- c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III, Scene i:
- […] 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?
- (manner) With difficulty.
- His degree was hard earned.
- The vehicle moves hard.
- (obsolete) So as to raise difficulties.
- (Can we date this quote?) Sir Thomas Browne
- The question is hard set.
- (Can we date this quote?) Sir Thomas Browne
- (manner) Compactly.
- The lake had finally frozen hard.
- (now archaic) Near, close.
- Bible, Acts xviii. 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.
- Bible, Acts xviii. 7
Derived terms
- blowhard
- die hard
- go hard on
- go hard with
- hard aport
- hard astarboard
- hard at it
- hard-baked
- hard-bitten
- hard-bound
- hard by
- hard-coded
- hard-contested
- hard done by
- hard-drawn
- hard drinker
- hard-drinking
- hard-driven
- hard-earned
- hard-fought
- hard-gained
- hard-got, hard-gotten
- hard-hit
- hard-hitting
- hard on, hard upon
- hard on one's heels, hard on the heels
- hard-pressed
- hard-pushed
- hard-wearing
- hard-wired
- hard-won
- hard-working
- run hard
Translations
Noun
hard (countable and uncountable, plural hards)
- (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 […]
- 1952, Edward John Barrington Douglas-Scott-Montagu Baron Montagu, Beaulieu, the Abbey, Palace House, and Buckler's Hard (page 36)
- (uncountable, drugs, colloquial, slang) crack cocaine.
- (motorsports) Ellipsis of hard tyre (A tyre whose compound is softer than superhards, and harder than mediums.)
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɦɑrt/
hard (file) - Hyphenation: hard
- Rhymes: -ɑrt
- Homophone: hart
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch hart, from Old Dutch hart, from Proto-Germanic *harduz.
Adjective
hard (comparative harder, superlative hardst)
- hard, strong
- Antonym: zacht
- (economics, of a currency) strong, not easily devalued
- unquestionable, uncontestable
- harde feiten
- hard facts
- heartless, unsympathetic (of a person)
- Antonym: zacht
- hard, difficult
- een harde strijd
- a difficult fight
- harsh, heavy
- harde straffen
- harsh punishments
- een harde regen
- heavy rain
- hard, rich in calcium (of water)
- Antonym: zacht
- loud (of sound)
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 | — |
Adverb
hard
Etymology 3
See the etymology of the main entry.
French
Pronunciation
- (aspirated h) IPA(key): /aʁd/
Audio (file)
Noun
hard m (plural hards)
- hardcore pornography
- Le Journal du hard est une émission de Canal + dédiée au cinéma pornographique.
- (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- hard rock
- 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.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 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 lá son meilleur disque, pourtant, leurs paroles pseudo-lyriques et leurs envolées déplaisaient.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 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.
Norwegian Bokmål
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)
Derived terms
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Old Norse harðr, from Proto-Germanic *harduz.
Old Saxon
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *harduz.
Declension
Strong declension | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
gender | masculine | neuter | feminine | |||
case | singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural |
nominative | hard | harde | hard | hardu | hard | harde |
accusative | hardana | harde | harda | hardu | hard | harde |
genitive | hardes | hardarō | hardaro | hardarō | hardes | hardarō |
dative | hardumu | hardum | hardaro | hardum | hardumu | hardum |
Weak declension | ||||||
gender | masculine | neuter | feminine | |||
case | singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural |
nominative | hardo | hardu | harda | hardu | harda | hardu |
accusative | hardun | hardun | hardun | hardun | harda | hardun |
genitive | hardun | hardonō | hardun | hardonō | hardun | hardonō |
dative | hardun | hardum | hardun | hardum | hardun | hardum |
Weak declension | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
gender | masculine | neuter | feminine | |||
case | singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural |
nominative | hardiro | hardiru | hardira | hardiru | hardira | hardiru |
accusative | hardirun | hardirun | hardirun | hardirun | hardira | hardirun |
genitive | hardirun | hardironō | hardirun | hardironō | hardirun | hardironō |
dative | hardirun | hardirum | hardirun | hardirum | hardirun | hardirum |
Strong declension | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
gender | masculine | neuter | feminine | |||
case | singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural |
nominative | hardist | hardiste | hardist | hardistu | hardist | hardiste |
accusative | hardistana | hardiste | hardista | hardistu | hardist | hardiste |
genitive | hardistes | hardistarō | hardistaro | hardistarō | hardistes | hardistarō |
dative | hardistumu | hardistum | hardistaro | hardistum | hardistumu | hardistum |
Weak declension | ||||||
gender | masculine | neuter | feminine | |||
case | singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural |
nominative | hardisto | hardistu | hardista | hardistu | hardista | hardistu |
accusative | hardistun | hardistun | hardistun | hardistun | hardista | hardistun |
genitive | hardistun | hardistonō | hardistun | hardistonō | hardistun | hardistonō |
dative | hardistun | hardistum | hardistun | hardistum | hardistun | hardistum |