<p><strong>Adjective</strong></p><ul><li>not soft; solid and firm to the touch; unyielding to pressure and impenetrable or almost impenetrable.</li><li>Synonyms: flinty, adamantine, firm, compact, compressed, rigid, inflexible.</li><li>Antonyms: soft.</li><li>firmly formed; tight: a hard knot.</li><li>difficult to do or accomplish; fatiguing; troublesome: a hard task.</li><li>Synonyms: exhausting, wearisome, onerous, toilsome.</li><li>Antonyms: easy.</li><li>difficult or troublesome with respect to an action, situation, person, etc.: hard to please; a hard time.</li><li>Antonyms: easy.</li><li>difficult to deal with, manage, control, overcome, or understand: a hard problem.</li><li>Synonyms: tough, knotty, intricate, puzzling, complicated, complex.</li><li>Antonyms: easy.</li><li>involving a great deal of effort, energy, or persistence: hard labor; hard study.</li><li>Synonyms: laborious, difficult, arduous.</li><li>Antonyms: easy.</li><li>performing or carrying on work with great effort, energy, or persistence: a hard worker.</li><li>vigorous or violent in force; severe: a hard rain; a hard fall.</li><li>Synonyms: tempestuous, stormy.</li><li>bad; unendurable; unbearable: hard luck.</li><li>oppressive; harsh; rough: hard treatment.</li><li>Synonyms: unsparing, merciless, cruel, rigorous, severe.</li><li>austere; severe: a hard winter; the hard times of the Great Depression.</li><li>harsh or severe in dealing with others: a hard master.</li><li>Synonyms: unpitying, exacting, strict, austere, stern, unyielding, adamant, obdurate, relentless.</li><li>difficult to explain away; undeniable: hard facts.</li><li>Synonyms: incontrovertible.</li><li>that can be verified; factual, as distinguished from speculation or hearsay: hard information.</li><li>harsh or unfriendly; resentful; severe; bitter: hard feelings; hard words.</li><li>of stern judgment or close examination; searching: a hard look.</li><li>lacking delicacy or softness; not blurred or diffused; clear and distinct; sharp; harsh: a hard line; a hard, bright light; hard features; a hard face.</li><li>(of a photograph) contrasty.</li><li>severe or rigorous in terms: a hard bargain.</li><li>sternly realistic; dispassionate; unsentimental: a hard, practical man; a hard view of life.</li><li>incorrigible; disreputable; tough: a hard character.</li><li>Scot. and North England. stingy; mean: hard with money.</li><li>in coins or paper money as distinguished from checks, securities, promissory notes, or other negotiable instruments.</li><li>(of paper money or a monetary system) supported by sufficient gold reserves and easily convertible into the currency of a foreign nation.</li><li>(of money) scarce or available at high interest rates: a hard loan.</li><li>denoting assets with intrinsic value, as gold, silver, or diamonds.</li><li>(of alcoholic beverages) containing more than 22.5 percent alcohol by volume, as whiskey and brandy as opposed to beer and wine.</li><li>strong because of fermentation; intoxicating: hard cider.</li><li>(of wine) tasting excessively of tannin.</li><li>(of an illicit narcotic or drug) known to be physically addictive, as opium, morphine, or cocaine.</li><li>(of water) containing mineral salts that interfere with the action of soap.</li><li>(of bread and baked goods) having a firm, crisp crust or texture: hard rolls.</li><li>stale or tough.</li><li>(of a fabric) having relatively little nap; smooth: Silk is a harder fabric than wool or cotton.</li><li>(of the landing of a rocket or space vehicle) executed without decelerating: Compare soft (def 28).</li><li>a hard landing on the moon.</li><li>(of a missile base) equipped to launch missiles from underground silos.</li><li>(of a missile) capable of being launched from an underground silo.</li><li>Military. being underground and strongly protected from nuclear bombardment.</li><li>Agriculture. noting wheats with high gluten content, milled for a bread flour as contrasted with pastry flour.</li><li>Phonetics. fortis.</li><li>(of c and g) pronounced as (k) in come and (g) in go, rather than as in cent, cello, suspicion, gem, or beige.</li><li>(of consonants in Slavic languages) not palatalized. Compare soft (def 26).</li><li>(in the making of rope) noting a lay having a considerable angle to the axis of the rope; short.</li><li>Physics. (of a beam of particles or photons) having relatively high energy: Compare soft (def 29).</li><li>hard x-rays.</li><li>(of the penis) erect.</li></ul><p><strong>Adverb</strong></p><ul><li>with great exertion; with vigor or violence; strenuously: to work hard; to try hard; to fight back hard.</li><li>earnestly, intently, or critically: to look hard at a thing.</li><li>harshly or severely.</li><li>so as to be solid, tight, or firm: frozen hard.</li><li>with strong force or impact: She tripped and came down hard on her back.</li><li>in a deeply affected manner; with genuine sorrow or remorse: She took it very hard when they told her of his death.</li><li>closely; immediately: Failure and defeat seemed hard at hand.</li><li>The decision to ban students from the concerts followed hard on the heels of the riot.</li><li>to an unreasonable or extreme degree; excessively; immoderately: He's hitting the bottle pretty hard.</li><li>Nautical. closely, fully, or to the extreme limit: hard aport; hard alee.</li></ul><p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>Nautical. a firm or paved beach or slope convenient for hauling vessels out of the water.</li><li>British. a firm or solid beach or foreshore.</li><li>a firm landing, jetty, or road across or adjoining the foreshore.</li><li>British Slang. hard labor.</li></ul>