Searching for synonyms for tough? Here’s some similar words from our thesaurus you can use instead.

Synonyms

• street fighter a contestant who is very aggressive and willing to use underhand methods ; someone who learned to fight in the streets rather than being formally trained in the sport of boxing

Synonyms

• hood cover with a hood; an aggressive and violent young criminal ; a protective covering that is part of a plant ; (slang) a neighborhood ; a tubular attachment used to keep stray light out of the lens of a camera ; (falconry) a leather covering for a hawk’s head ; metal covering leading to a vent that exhausts smoke or fumes ; the folding roof of a carriage ; a headdress that protects the head and face ; protective covering consisting of a metal part that covers the engine; (zoology) an expandable part or marking that resembles a hood on the head or neck of an animal
• hoodlum an aggressive and violent young criminal
• goon an awkward stupid person ; an aggressive and violent young criminal
• punk of very poor quality; an aggressive and violent young criminal ; substance that smolders when ignited; material for starting a fire ; a teenager or young adult who is a performer (or enthusiast) of punk rock and a member of the punk youth subculture ; rock music with deliberately offensive lyrics expressing anger and social alienation
• thug an aggressive and violent young criminal
• toughie an aggressive and violent young criminal ; a particularly difficult or baffling question or problem
• strong-armer an aggressive and violent young criminal

Synonyms

• bully very good; be bossy towards; discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; a cruel and brutal fellow ; a hired thug
• hooligan a cruel and brutal fellow
• ruffian a cruel and brutal fellow
• roughneck a cruel and brutal fellow
• rowdy disturbing the public peace; a cruel and brutal fellow
• yob a cruel and brutal fellow
• yobo a cruel and brutal fellow
• yobbo a cruel and brutal fellow

• “a tough character“

• “severely testing stamina or resolution“
• “a rugged competitive examination“
• “the rugged conditions of frontier life“
• “the competition was tough“
• “it’s a tough life“
• “it was a tough job“

Synonyms

• rugged sturdy and strong in constitution or construction; having long narrow shallow depressions (as grooves or wrinkles) in the surface; topographically very uneven; very difficult

• “the tough bottoms of his feet“

Synonyms

• toughened physically toughened; made hard or flexible or resilient especially by heat treatment

• “sturdy steel shelves“
• “sturdy canvas“
• “a tough all-weather fabric“
• “some plastics are as tough as metal“

Synonyms

• sturdy having rugged physical strength; not making concessions; substantially made or constructed

• “the more ruffianly element“
• “tough street gangs“

Synonyms

• ruffianly violent and lawless

• “my throat feels bad“
• “she felt bad all over“
• “he was feeling tough after a restless night“

Synonyms

• bad that which is below standard or expectations as of ethics or decency; with great intensity (`bad’ is a nonstandard variant for `badly’); very much; having undesirable or negative qualities; very intense; feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough’ is occasionally used colloquially for `bad’); (of foodstuffs) not in an edible or usable condition; feeling or expressing regret or sorrow or a sense of loss over something done or undone; not capable of being collected; below average in quality or performance; nonstandard; not financially safe or secure; physically unsound or diseased; capable of harming; characterized by wickedness or immorality; reproduced fraudulently; not working properly

• “had hard luck“
• “a tough break“

Synonyms

• hard with effort or force or vigor; with firmness; earnestly or intently; causing great damage or hardship; slowly and with difficulty; indulging excessively; into a solid condition; very near or close in space or time; with pain or distress or bitterness; to the full extent possible; not easy; dispassionate; resisting weight or pressure ; very strong or vigorous; characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; produced without vibration of the vocal cords; (of light) transmitted directly from a pointed light source ; (of speech sounds); given to excessive indulgence of bodily appetites especially for intoxicating liquors; being distilled rather than fermented; unfortunate or hard to bear; dried out

• “hard to comprehend or solve or believe“
• “a baffling problem“
• “I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast“
• “a problematic situation at home“

Synonyms

• baffling making great mental demands
• elusive difficult to describe; skillful at eluding capture; difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze; making great mental demands
• knotty making great mental demands; used of old persons or old trees; highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious; tangled in knots or snarls
• problematic open to doubt or debate; making great mental demands
• problematical open to doubt or debate; making great mental demands