ROBUST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does robust mean? 

• ROBUST (adjective)
  The adjective ROBUST has 4 senses:

1. sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction

2. marked by richness and fullness of flavor

3. strong enough to withstand or overcome intellectual challenges or adversity

4. rough and crude

  Familiarity information: ROBUST used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ROBUST (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction

Context example:

a robust perennial

Similar:

beefy; buirdly; burly; husky; strapping (muscular and heavily built)

big-boned (having a bone structure that is massive in contrast with the surrounding flesh)

big-chested; chesty (marked by a large or well-developed chest)

big-shouldered; broad-shouldered; square-shouldered (having broad shoulders)

cast-iron; iron (extremely robust)

hardy; stalwart; stout; sturdy (having rugged physical strength; inured to fatigue or hardships)

hardy (able to survive under unfavorable weather conditions)

half-hardy ((of plants) requiring protection from frost)

heavy-armed (having massive arms)

square-built (broad and solidly built)

vigorous (strong and active physically or mentally)

Also:

rugged (sturdy and strong in constitution or construction; enduring)

strong (having strength or power greater than average or expected)

healthy (having or indicating good health in body or mind; free from infirmity or disease)

Antonym:

frail (physically weak)

Derivation:

robustness (the property of being strong and healthy in constitution)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Marked by richness and fullness of flavor

Synonyms:

full-bodied; racy; rich; robust

Context example:

the robust flavor of fresh-brewed coffee

Similar:

tasty (pleasing to the sense of taste)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Strong enough to withstand or overcome intellectual challenges or adversity

Context example:

a robust faith

Similar:

strong (having strength or power greater than average or expected)

Derivation:

robustness (the characteristic of being strong enough to withstand intellectual challenge)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Rough and crude

Context example:

a robust tale

Similar:

unrefined ((used of persons and their behavior) not refined; uncouth)

 Context examples 

It needed a robust faith in the end to justify such tragic means.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She replied, “My brother is robust, I am obliged to you.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Probiotics, which provide health benefits to humans, can also keep plants robust.

(Scientists discover new antibiotic in tropical forest, National Science Foundation)

Yet these gel-based tissue models don’t live long and fail to yield robust, tissue-level function.

(Bioengineers create functional 3D brain-like tissue, NIH)

The international team has made the first robust detection of a young planet, named PDS 70b, cleaving a path through the planet-forming material surrounding the young star.

(First Confirmed Image of Newborn Planet, ESO)

She is too tall and robust.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Man is more robust than woman, but he is not longer lived; which exactly explains my view of the nature of their attachments.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The Black Russian Terrier is a rare Russian breed that is robust, strong, large, stable and alert.

(Black Russian Terrier, NCI Thesaurus)

Previously, there was only a small fraction of this knowledge, mainly because researchers could measure only a few blood proteins simultaneously in a robust manner.

(Scientists create ‘genetic atlas’ of proteins in human blood, University of Cambridge)

Summarizes probe sets using the robust average 1-step Tukey biweight algorithm.

(Bioconductor caAffy MAS Probe Summary Method, NCI Thesaurus)