TOUGHNESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does toughness mean? 

• TOUGHNESS (noun)
  The noun TOUGHNESS has 4 senses:

1. enduring strength and energy

2. the property of being big and strong

3. the elasticity and hardness of a metal object; its ability to absorb considerable energy before cracking

4. impressive difficulty

  Familiarity information: TOUGHNESS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TOUGHNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Enduring strength and energy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

stamina; staying power; toughness

Hypernyms ("toughness" is a kind of...):

endurance (the power to withstand hardship or stress)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "toughness"):

legs (staying power)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The property of being big and strong

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

huskiness; ruggedness; toughness

Hypernyms ("toughness" is a kind of...):

strength (the property of being physically or mentally strong)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The elasticity and hardness of a metal object; its ability to absorb considerable energy before cracking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

temper; toughness

Hypernyms ("toughness" is a kind of...):

elasticity; snap (the tendency of a body to return to its original shape after it has been stretched or compressed)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Impressive difficulty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

formidability; toughness

Hypernyms ("toughness" is a kind of...):

difficultness; difficulty (the quality of being difficult)

Derivation:

tough (making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe)

tough (very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution)

tough (resistant to cutting or chewing)

 Context examples 

Results in loss of mechanical toughness.

(Delamination, Food and Drug Administration)

"Use the chicken then, the toughness won't matter in a salad," advised his wife.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He glanced about him at the well-bred, well-dressed men and women, and breathed into his lungs the atmosphere of culture and refinement, and at the same moment the ghost of his early youth, in stiff- rim and square-cut, with swagger and toughness, stalked across the room.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The stiff-rim and the square-cut vanished, being replaced by milder garments; the toughness went out of the face, the hardness out of the eyes; and, the face, chastened and refined, was irradiated from an inner life of communion with beauty and knowledge.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)