TOUGHEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does toughen mean? 

• TOUGHEN (verb)
  The verb TOUGHEN has 1 sense:

1. make tough or tougher

  Familiarity information: TOUGHEN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TOUGHEN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they toughen    ... he / she / it toughens   
Past simple: toughened   
Past participle: toughened   
-ing form: toughening   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make tough or tougher

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

This experience will toughen her

Hypernyms (to "toughen" is one way to...):

strengthen (gain strength)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "toughen"):

harden; season (make fit)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

Going slowly but surely, Saturn will toughen you up and help you to deal with anything life can throw your way, especially professionally.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

It developed what little executive ability I possessed, and I was aware of a toughening or hardening which I was undergoing and which could not be anything but wholesome for “Sissy” Van Weyden.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

From the higher sides of the cog the bowmen could shoot straight down, at a range which was so short as to enable a cloth-yard shaft to pierce through mail-coats or to transfix a shield, though it were an inch thick of toughened wood.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Saturn will toughen you up and teach you the value of striving for excellence.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

You’ve become used to Saturn’s demands, and during the process, he has toughened you up.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

In the process of teaching you, he toughened you up, took you out of your comfort zone, and showed you that you were stronger, more resilient, and more resourceful about finding solutions to life’s roadblocks than you ever thought possible.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)