hard

adj

1. firm, solid, solidified, compact, condensed, close, compressed, pressed; flinty, stony, rocky, steely, concrete, hardened, petrified, stonelike, rocklike, glassy, lithoid, marblelike, granitelike; strong, substantial, stout, fixed, stable, sound, set; tight, secure, fast, not easily cut or separated; tough, callous, horny, leathery, coriaceous; unyielding, resistant, renitent; impervious, impenetrable, impregnable, thick, dense, repelling, unassailable; rigid, stiff, unmalleable, unpliable, rugged.

2. fatiguing, exhausting, arduous, laborious, heavy, strenuous, toilsome, uphill, full of obstacles, Herculean, Inf. wicked, Inf. rough, Inf. tough, Inf. nasty; rigorous, not easy, exacting, painstaking, tedious, unmit-igating, endless, tiresome, boring.

3. perplexing, knotty, puzzling, enigmatic; baffling, bewildering, labyrinthine, inextricable; complicated, tangled, complex, involved; trying, unmanageable, unwieldy, awkward, clumsy, incomprehensible, insolvable, irresoluble, irreducible; vague, obscure, deep, profound, inscrutable; nice, delicate, ticklish, thorny.

4. oppressive, pitiless, ruthless, harsh, cruel, merciless, unrelenting; unfeeling, insensible, unsympathetic, unemotional. See hard-boiled, hard-handed, and hard-hearted

5. bad, unendurable, unbearable, intolerable, insupportable, insufferable; afflictive, injurious, consuming; grievous, disastrous, calamitous, devastating; intense, racking, agonizing, torturous, distressing, painful, excruciating.

6. hard-working, persevering, plodding, earnest, diligent, industrious, unflagging, untiring, resolute, unfaltering; conscientious, assiduous, sedulous, determined, persistent, constant, enduring, indefatigable; keen, intent, ardent, eager, zealous, avid, energetic, vigorous, dynamic, aggressive, operose.

7.(of a beverage) alcoholic, strong, corned, turned, overpowering, Sl. pickling, Sl. strong enough to grow hair on one's chest or on a cueball.

8.(of drugs) addictive, habit-forming; detrimental, injurious, deleterious, noxious, harmful.

9.(of bread) crusty, crunchy, chewy; crisp, stale, dry, crackly.

adv

10. strenuously, heavily, with might and main, laboriously, arduously, toilsomely, industriously, with all one's might, by the sweat of one's brow; earnestly, intently, diligently, persistently, persevering-ly; conscientiously, unfalteringly, indefatigably, untiringly, energetically, actively, dynamically, vigorously, with vigor, lustily; intensely, keenly, avidly, eagerly, heartily, spiritedly, ardently, urgently, zealously; constantly, undeviatingly, incessantly, steadily, sedulously, studiously, unswervingly, ploddingly, steadfastly, determinedly, tenaciously; severely, austerely, emphatically, vehemently, relentlessly; exactingly, painstakingly, slowly.

11. harshly, severely, mercilessly, pitilessly; with a heavy hand, overbearingly, tyrannically, unbearably, insufferably, onerously, high-handedly; violently, forcibly, fiercely, ruthlessly, savagely, madly, wildly.

12. hard by or upon

close, close by, near, near by, nigh, at one's fingertips, under one's nose; in sight of, not far away, but a step away, within an inch of, within call or hearing, within earshot; at one's door, within a stone's throw, at close quarters, at one's elbow, within reach or range; on the brink or verge, about, on every side, bordering, beside, against, around.