| noun | someone who learned to fight in the streets rather than being formally trained in the sport of boxing |
| noun | an aggressive and violent young criminal |
| noun | a cruel and brutal fellow |
| adjective | not given to gentleness or sentimentality “a tough character” |
| adjective | very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution “a rugged competitive examination” |
| adjective | physically toughened “the tough bottoms of his feet” |
| adjective | substantially made or constructed “sturdy steel shelves” |
| adjective | violent and lawless “the more ruffianly element” |
| adjective | feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad') “my throat feels bad” |
| adjective | resistant to cutting or chewing |
| adjective | unfortunate or hard to bear “had hard luck” |
| adjective | making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe “a baffling problem” |
| strong-arm | verb | handle roughly |
| bully | verb | discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate |
| ruffianly | adjective | violent and lawless |
| ruggedness | noun | the quality of being difficult to do |
| toughness | noun | impressive difficulty |
| sturdiness | noun | the property of something that is strongly built |
| ruffian | noun | a cruel and brutal fellow |
| badness | noun | used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather |
| hardness | noun | excessive sternness |
| knottiness | noun | puzzling complexity |
| problem | noun | a state of difficulty that needs to be resolved |