hard

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See also:Hard,härd,andhård

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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FromMiddle Englishhard,fromOld Englishheard,fromProto-West Germanic*hard(ī),fromProto-Germanic*harduz,fromProto-Indo-European*kort-ús,from*kret-(strong, powerful).Cognate withGermanhart,Swedishhård,Ancient Greekκρατύς(kratús),Sanskritक्रतु(krátu),Avestan𐬑𐬭𐬀𐬙𐬎(xratu).

Adjective

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hard(comparativeharderormorehard,superlativehardestormosthard)

  1. (of material or fluid)Solidandfirm.
    1. Resistanttopressure;difficulttobreak,cut,orpenetrate.
      This bread is so stale andhard,I can barely cut it.
    2. (of drink or drugs)Strong.
    3. (of a normally nonalcoholic drink)Containingalcohol.
      hardcider,hardlemonade,hardseltzer,hardsoda
      • 2023March 1, Rachel Ellison, “Bad Dates Turn Out to Be Excellent on TikTok”, inThe New York Times[1]:
        Stunned, she deleted his number and went home. Then she cracked ahardseltzer, opened her phone’s camera and filmed a TikTok video recounting the evening[].
    4. (of water)High indissolvedchemicalsalts,especially those ofcalcium.
    5. (physics,of aferromagneticmaterial)Having the capability of being apermanent magnetby being a material with high magneticcoercivity(comparesoft).
    6. (physics,ofelectromagneticradiation)Having a highenergy(highfrequency;shortwavelength).
      hardX-rays
    7. (photography,of light)Made up ofparallelrays,producing clearly definedshadows.
  2. (personal or social)Having a severe property; presenting difficulty.
    1. Difficult or requiring a lot ofeffortto do, understand, experience, or deal with.
      ahardproblem;  ahardquestion;  ahardtopic
      • 1988,Edmund White,An Oracle:
        Ray found ithardto 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.
      • 1999January 21,Alan Bennett,“What I did in 1998”,inLondon Review of Books,volume21,number 2:
        The stone circle is small and hard to find and the search is madeharderbecause all down the beck cars are parked on the verge and the supposedly unfrequented road up the valley very busy.
      • 2013July 26,Nick Miroff,“Mexico gets a taste for eating insects…”,inThe Guardian Weekly,volume189,number 7, page32:
        The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt downhard-to-find critters such as ostrich, wild boar and crocodile.
      • 2016January 2, James Romm, “Beginning Greek, Again and Again”, inThe New York Times[2]:
        It’s been said that, for nonstellar teachers at least, thehardestthings to teach are the things one loves most.
    2. Demanding a lot of effort to endure.
      ahardlife
    3. Severe,harsh,unfriendly,brutal.
      ahardmaster;  ahardheart; hardwords;  ahardcharacter
      The senator asked the party chief to put thehardword on his potential rivals.
    4. (dated)Difficult to resist or control; powerful.
      • 1692,Roger L’Estrange,“(please specify the fable number.)(please specify the name of the fable.)”,inFables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists:[],London:[]R[ichard]Sare,[],→OCLC:
        The stag was toohardfor the horse.
      • 1716March 23 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 24. Monday, March 12.[1716.]”,inThe Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq;[],volume IV, London:[]Jacob Tonson,[],published1721,→OCLC:
        a power which will be always toohardfor them
    5. (military)Hardened; having unusually strong defences.
      ahardsite
    6. (slang)Tough,muscular,badass.
      He thinks he's wellhard.
      • 2006,Noire[pseudonym],Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale,New York, N.Y.:One World,Ballantine Books,→ISBN,page108:
        I was ahardniggah, but not twisted enough to eat and socialize with my peeps knowing I was planning on robbing them before the night was over.
    7. (slang)Excellent,impressive.
      This songgoeshard.
      This guy always has thehardestfits.
  3. Unquestionable;unequivocal.
    hardevidence;  ahardrequirement
    • 1796,The History of the Trial of Warren Hastings[3]:
      []for, unless supported byhardfacts, 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[4]:
      Here are a few techniques to turn ahard"no" into an easy "yes"!
    • 2011December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”,inThe 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 fewhardfacts 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 thehardleft.
  5. (slang,vulgar,of amale)Sexuallyaroused;having anerectpenis.
    I got sohardwatching two hot girls wrestle each other on the beach.
  6. (bodybuilding)Havingmusclesthat aretightenedas a result of intense, regularexercise.
  7. (phonetics,not comparable)Fortis.
    1. Plosive.
      There is ahardcin "clock" and asoftcin "centre".
    2. Unvoiced.
      Hardk,t,s,ch,as distinguished fromsoft,g,d,z,j.
  8. (Slavic phonology)Velarizedorplain,rather thanpalatalized.
    The letterж(ž)in Russian is alwayshard.
  9. (art)Having asevereproperty;presenting abarrierto enjoyment.
    1. Rigidin the drawing ordistributionof the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.
    2. Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in colour or shading.
  10. (not comparable)
    1. In a physical form, notdigital.
      a soft orhardcopy; a digital orhardarchive
    2. Using a manual or physical process, not by means of a software command.
      ahardreboot or reset
  11. (politics)Far,extreme.
  12. Ofsilk:not having had the naturalgumboiled off.
  13. (finance)Of amarket:having moredemandthansupply;being aseller's market.
    Antonym:soft
    • 2009,J. David Cummins, Olivier Mahul,Catastrophe Risk Financing in Developing Countries,page 7:
      Undercapitalized insurers cannot retain more catastrophe risks when the market ishard[]
  14. (of pornography)Hardcore.
Synonyms
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Antonyms
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Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • Finnish:haarti
  • Spanish:hard
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Adverb

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hard(comparativeharder,superlativehardest)

  1. (manner)With much force or effort.
    He hit the puckhardup the ice.
    They workedhardall week.
    The recession hit them especiallyhard.
    Thinkhardabout your choices.
    The couple were fucking each otherhard.
    • 1595,Edmunde Spenser [i.e.,Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet VI”, inAmorettiandEpithalamion.[],London:[][Peter Short] forWilliam Ponsonby,→OCLC,signature A4, verso:
      Be nought diſmayd that her vnmoued mind, / doth ſtill perſiſt in her rebellious pride: / ſuch loue not lyke to luſts of baſer kynd, / thehardervvonne, the firmer vvill abide.
    • 1610–1611(date written),William Shakespeare,“The Tempest”,inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[](First Folio), London:[]Isaac Iaggard,andEd[ward]Blount,published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene i]:
      []My father / Ishardat study. Pray now, rest yourself;[]
    • 1700,[John] Dryden,“The Wife of Bath's Tale”, inFables Ancient and Modern;[],London:[]Jacob Tonson,[],→OCLC:
      prayed sohardfor mercy from the prince
    • 1887,Harriet W. Daly,Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia,page164:
      I playedhard,I drankhard,I rodehard,and did everything much on the same pattern.
    • 1985,Michael A. Arbib,In search of the person: philosophical explorations in cognitive science,page119:
      What, then, of the voluntarist's sense that one often has to think long andhardbefore making agonizing choices?
  2. (manner)With difficulty.
    His degree washardearned.
  3. (obsolete)So as to raise difficulties.
  4. (manner)Compactly.
    The lake had finally frozenhard.
  5. (nowarchaic)Near,close.
    At the intersection, bearhardleft.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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hard(countableanduncountable,pluralhards)

  1. (countable,nautical)A firm or pavedbeachorslopeconvenient 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,page36:
      The Monastery's ironworks at Sowley were renowned for centuries but declined with the passing of the 'wooden walls' at Buckler'sHard— a great number of these ships having been built with timber from the Beaulieu Woods[]
  2. (countable,motor racing)A tyre whose compound is softer thansuperhards,and harder thanmediums.
  3. (uncountable,drugs,slang)Crack cocaine.
  4. (uncountable,slang)Hard labor.
    The prisoners were sentenced to three years'hard.

Etymology 2

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FromMiddle Englishharden,herden,fromOld Englishheardian(to become hard)andhierdan(to make hard),fromProto-West Germanic*hardēnand*hardijan,fromProto-Germanic*hardijaną.

Verb

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hard(third-person singular simple presenthards,present participleharding,simple past and past participleharded)

  1. (transitive,obsolete)To make hard,harden.
    • 1641,original1618,Guillaume de Saluste Du Bartas, Josuah Sylvester,Du Bartas His Diuine Weekes and Workes:
      He knows vain men: he sees their harts thathardthem In Guiles and Wiles, and will not hee regard them?

Anagrams

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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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FromMiddle Dutchhart,fromOld Dutchhart,fromProto-West Germanic*hard(ī),fromProto-Germanic*harduz.

Adjective

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hard(comparativeharder,superlativehardst)

  1. hard,strong
    Antonym:zacht
  2. (economics,of a currency)strong,not easilydevalued
  3. unquestionable,uncontestable
    hardefeiten
    hardfacts
  4. heartless,unsympathetic(of a person)
    Antonym:zacht
  5. hard,difficult
    eenhardestrijd
    adifficultfight
  6. harsh,heavy
    hardestraffen
    harshpunishments
    eenharderegen
    heavyrain
  7. hard,rich incalcium(of water)
    Antonym:zacht
  8. loud(of sound)
    Synonym:luid
    Antonym:zacht
  9. fast
    Synonym:snel
    Antonyms:langzaam,traag
    hardfietsen
    cyclefast
    hardrijden
    drivefast
    hardwerken
    workhard
    hardlopen
    walkfast
Declension
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Declension ofhard
uninflected hard
inflected harde
comparative harder
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial hard harder hethardst
hethardste
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
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Descendants
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Etymology 2

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(Thisetymologyis missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium.)

Adverb

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hard

  1. (speed)fast,swiftly
    Ik heb een bekeuring gekregen omdat ik tehardheb gereden.
    I got a ticket because I drove toofast.
  2. very
  3. loudly

Etymology 3

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See the etymology of the correspondinglemmaform.

Verb

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hard

  1. inflection ofharden:
    1. first-personsingularpresentindicative
    2. (in case ofinversion)second-personsingularpresentindicative
    3. imperative

French

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Etymology

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BorrowedfromEnglishhard.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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hard(pluralhards)

  1. (of pornography)hardcore
    Des photoshards.
    Hardcore pictures.

Noun

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hardm(pluralhards)

  1. hardcorepornography
    Le Journal duhardest une émission de Canal + dédiée au cinéma pornographique.
    Le Journal du hard ( "Hard PornNews ") is a broadcast by Canal+ dedicated to pornographic films.
  2. hard rock
    Elle adore lehardet le headbang.
    She just loveshard rockand 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,page98:
      Lehardsemble ainsi capable de remplir le contrat originel du rock.
      As such,hard rockseems capable of fulfilling the original purpose of rock.
    • 2014,Christian Eudeline, "Uriah Heep. Look At Yourself", inDu hard rock au métal. Les 100 albums cultes,Gründ (publ.).
      Au croisement duhardet du prog, Uriah Heep[]enregistre là son meilleur disque, pourtant, leurs paroles pseudo-lyriques et leurs envolées déplaisaient.
      At the crossroads ofhard rockand prog rock, Uriah Heep[]records its best disc there; however, their pseudo-lyrical texts and their take-offs were disliked.

Irish

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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hard

  1. h-prothesizedform ofard

Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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FromOld Englishheard,fromProto-West Germanic*hard(ī),fromProto-Germanic*harduz.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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hard

  1. hard

Descendants

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References

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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FromOld Norseharðr,fromProto-Germanic*harduz.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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hard(neuter singularhardt,definite singular and pluralharde,comparativehardere,indefinite superlativehardest,definite superlativehardeste)

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

Derived terms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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FromOld Norseharðr,fromProto-Germanic*harduz.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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hard(neuterhardt,definite singular and pluralharde,comparativehardare,indefinite superlativehardast,definite superlativehardaste)

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

Derived terms

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References

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Old Saxon

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Etymology

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FromProto-West Germanic*hard(ī).

Adjective

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hard(comparativehardiro,superlativehardist)

  1. hard

Declension

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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Spanish

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Etymology

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BorrowedfromEnglishhard.

Adjective

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hard(invariable)

  1. hard,heavy,hardcore

Yola

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Etymology

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FromMiddle Englishhard,fromOld Englishheard,fromProto-West Germanic*hard(ī).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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hard

  1. hard
    • 1867,“A YOLA ZONG”, inSONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY,number11,page88:
      W' vengem toohard,he zunk ee commane,
      With venom toohard,he sunk his bat-club,

Derived terms

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References

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  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland,London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page88