1. (superl.) Not easily penetrated, cut, or separated into parts; not yielding to pressure; firm; solid; compact; -- applied to material bodies, and opposed to soft; as, hard wood; hard flesh; a hard apple.

2. (superl.) Difficult, mentally or judicially; not easily apprehended, decided, or resolved; as a hard problem.

3. (superl.) Difficult to accomplish; full of obstacles; laborious; fatiguing; arduous; as, a hard task; a disease hard to cure.

4. (superl.) Difficult to resist or control; powerful.

5. (superl.) Difficult to bear or endure; not easy to put up with or consent to; hence, severe; rigorous; oppressive; distressing; unjust; grasping; as, a hard lot; hard times; hard fare; a hard winter; hard conditions or terms.

6. (superl.) Difficult to please or influence; stern; unyielding; obdurate; unsympathetic; unfeeling; cruel; as, a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character.

7. (superl.) Not easy or agreeable to the taste; stiff; rigid; ungraceful; repelling; as, a hard style.

8. (superl.) Rough; acid; sour, as liquors; as, hard cider.

9. (superl.) Abrupt or explosive in utterance; not aspirated, sibilated, or pronounced with a gradual change of the organs from one position to another; -- said of certain consonants, as c in came, and g in go, as distinguished from the same letters in center, general, etc.

10. (superl.) Wanting softness or smoothness of utterance; harsh; as, a hard tone.

11. (superl.) Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.

12. (superl.) Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in the coloring or light and shade.

13. (adv.) With pressure; with urgency; hence, diligently; earnestly.

14. (adv.) With difficulty; as, the vehicle moves hard.

15. (adv.) Uneasily; vexatiously; slowly.

16. (adv.) So as to raise difficulties.

17. (adv.) With tension or strain of the powers; violently; with force; tempestuously; vehemently; vigorously; energetically; as, to press, to blow, to rain hard; hence, rapidly; as, to run hard.

18. (adv.) Close or near.

19. (v. t.) To harden; to make hard.

20. (n.) A ford or passage across a river or swamp.

Herculean Philistine about absolute abstruse accented acerb acerbic acrid acrimonious actively acute adamant adamantine addictive adverse afflictive agonizing agonizingly alcoholic all but almost along toward alveolar amaroidal anesthetic angry antagonistic apical apico-alveolar apico-dental approximately ardent ardently arduous arduously around articulated assiduous assiduously assimilated astringent at close quarters at hand atrocious austere avid back backbreaking bad badly baffling bankrupt bare barytone bec et ongles beefy beyond one bilabial biting bitter bitter as gall bleak bloodless blunt bony bothersome bouncing bowelless brazen broad broke brutal brutish bulky burdensome businesslike busted cacuminal calamitous calculating callous calloused carefully cartilaginous case-hardened cast-iron caustic cement cemental central cerebral checked chewy clear close close about close at hand close by close-knit close-textured close-woven coarse cohesive cold cold of heart coldblooded coldhearted compact compacted complex complicated compressed concentrated concrete condensed conditioning conflicting congested conscienceless conscientious conscientiously consolidated consonant consonantal continuant contrary cool coriaceous corneous counter counteractive crabbed crammed crammed full cramp cramping critical crowded cruel dark deep deeply definite delicate demanding dense dental despotic determinedly detrimental devastating devoted devotedly dictatorial difficile difficult diligent diligently disastrous dispassionate dissimilated distinct distressing distressingly dog-eat-dog dogged doggedly dorsal doughty dour down-to-earth dull durable dure dynamically eager eagerly earnestly effortful effortfully enduring energetic energetically enigmatic exacting excruciating exhausting factual fast by fatiguing fervent fibrous firm flat flinthearted flintlike flinty forceful forcefully forcible forcibly forcy formidable front full-blooded full-strength fundamentalist garbled genuine glide glossal glottal gluey gnawing granitelike granitic grave grievous grim grinding griping gristly gutsy guttural gutty habit-forming habituating hairy hale hammer and tongs hard as nails hard by hard of heart hard to understand hard up hard-bitten hard-boiled hard-core hard-earned hard-fought hard-nosed hard-set hardened hardheaded hardhearted hardworking hardy harmful harrowing harsh harshly heart and soul heartily