Hard definition

Hard as an adjective

1. not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure

   "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?"

   Same sense: difficult

2. dispassionate

   "took a hard look"

3. resisting weight or pressure

4. very strong or vigorous

   "a hard left to the chin"

   Same sense: severe, knockout

5. characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort

   "hard labor"

   Same sense: heavy, punishing, arduous, grueling, laborious, gruelling, backbreaking, toilsome

6. produced without vibration of the vocal cords

   Same sense: voiceless, unvoiced, surd

7. (of light) transmitted directly from a pointed light source

   Same sense: concentrated

8. (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. given to excessive indulgence of bodily appetites especially for intoxicating liquors

   "a hard drinker"

   Same sense: heavy, intemperate

10. being distilled rather than fermented; having a high alcoholic content

    "hard liquor"

    Same sense: strong

11. unfortunate or hard to bear

    "had hard luck"

    Same sense: tough

12. dried out

    "hard dry rolls left over from the day before"

Hard as an adverb

13. with effort or force or vigor

    "the team played hard"

14. with firmness

    "held hard to the railing"

    Same sense: firmly

15. earnestly or intently

    "thought hard about it"

16. causing great damage or hardship

    "industries hit hard by the depression"

    Same sense: severely

17. slowly and with difficulty

    "prejudices die hard"

    Same sense: hardly

18. indulging excessively

    Same sense: heavily, intemperately

19. into a solid condition

    "concrete that sets hard within a few hours"

20. very near or close in space or time

    "it stands hard by the railroad tracks"

21. with pain or distress or bitterness

    "he took the rejection very hard"

22. to the full extent possible; all the way

    "hard alee"

Synonyms and antonyms

• difficult
• severe
• knockout
• heavy
• punishing
• arduous
• grueling
• laborious
• gruelling
• backbreaking
• toilsome
• voiceless
• unvoiced
• surd
• concentrated
• intemperate
• strong definition
• tough
• firmly
• severely
• hardly
• heavily
• intemperately

Opposite: soft.

All synonyms of hard, sense by sense

How to say hard

Hard has 1 syllable and rhymes with card. Syllable counts and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary.

Words that rhyme with hard

• card
• guard
• yard
• regard
• backyard
• starred
• barred
• boulevard
• disregard
• courtyard
• graveyard
• safeguard

All 50 words that rhyme with hard

HARD in word games

Scrabble

8

Words With Friends

7

Anagrams

0

Is HARD a valid Scrabble word? Yes, it is in the ENABLE list most word games use. Check HARD in the word checker, or unscramble HARD to see the shorter words in its letters.