hard

A1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /hɑɹd/ UK /hɑːd/ See IPA manual

Freq #316

Meanings

1

adv
With a lot of effort or force.

The whole team worked hard to finish on time.
2

adv
In a way that causes serious damage or difficulty.

The town was hit hard by the floods.
3

adv
Firmly and tightly.

She held hard to the railing as the boat rocked.

Word forms

The same word in different grammatical forms.

Adverb

Harder and hardest compare effort or force. Hardly has a different meaning.

Base form: hard
They worked hard.
Comparative: harder
They worked harder this week.
Superlative: hardest
She worked hardest of all.

Use the comparative to compare two things or actions. Use the superlative for the highest or lowest degree in a group.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 adv · in a way that causes... severely

3 adv · firmly and tightly. firmly

More adamantine concrete firm granitic grim inflexible lithic resistant rigid robust solid stiff

Opposites

cushiony flexible moldable soft spongy tender yielding

Word family

Derived forms blow-hardblowhardbone-harddie-hardforhardhard-and-fasthard-arsehard-asshard-assedhard-asseryhard-bakedhard-bill

Related forms hardpeerhardy

Appears in

Phrases (3)

See all

Idioms (1)

See all

between a rock and a hard place
facing two equally bad options, neither of which can be avoided

Proverbs (23)

See all

Tongue twisters (1)

See all

A Tutor Who Tooted
A tutor, who tooted a flute, tried to tutor two tooters to toot. Said the two to the tutor: “Is it harder to toot, or tutor two tooters to toot?”

Keep toot, tooted and tooters distinct while maintaining the long vowel. Tutor varies by accent, so it need not begin exactly like toot.

Etymology

From Middle English hard, from Old English heard, from Proto-West Germanic *hard(ī), from Proto-Germanic *harduz, from Proto-Indo-European *kort-ús, from *kret- (“strong, powerful”). Cognates Cognate with Yola hard (“hard”), West Frisian hurd (“hard”), Alemannic German hert (“hard”), Bavarian hoat (“hard”), Central Franconian haat (“hard”), Dutch hard (“hard”), German hart (“hard”), Luxembourgish haart (“hard”), Danish, Swedish hård (“hard”), Faroese, Icelandic harður (“hard”), Norwegian Bokmål hard (“hard”), Norwegian Nynorsk hard, hard’u (“hard”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌿𐍃 (hardus, “hard”), Ancient Gree…

*kret- Proto-Indo-European hard Middle English heard Old English *hard(ī) Proto-West Germanic *harduz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# hard

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** adv
**IPA (US):** /hɑɹd/
**IPA (UK):** /hɑːd/
**Frequency rank:** 316

## Meanings
1. With a lot of effort or force.
2. In a way that causes serious damage or difficulty.
3. Firmly and tightly.

## Examples
- The whole team worked hard to finish on time.
- The town was hit hard by the floods.
- She held hard to the railing as the boat rocked.

## Synonyms
- adamantine
- concrete
- firm
- granitic
- grim
- inflexible
- lithic
- resistant
- rigid
- robust
- solid
- stiff

## Antonyms
- cushiony
- flexible
- moldable
- soft
- spongy
- tender
- yielding

## Derived Forms
- blow-hard
- blowhard
- bone-hard
- die-hard
- forhard
- hard-and-fast
- hard-arse
- hard-ass
- hard-assed
- hard-assery
- hard-baked
- hard-bill

## Related Forms
- hardpeer
- hardy

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *kret-
- Root: hard
- Root: heard
- Root: *hard(ī)
- Root: *harduz

## Etymology
From Middle English hard, from Old English heard, from Proto-West Germanic *hard(ī), from Proto-Germanic *harduz, from Proto-Indo-European *kort-ús, from *kret- (“strong, powerful”). Cognates Cognate with Yola hard (“hard”), West Frisian hurd (“hard”), Alemannic German hert (“hard”), Bavarian hoat (“hard”), Central Franconian haat (“hard”), Dutch hard (“hard”), German hart (“hard”), Luxembourgish haart (“hard”), Danish, Swedish hård (“hard”), Faroese, Icelandic harður (“hard”), Norwegian Bokmål hard (“hard”), Norwegian Nynorsk hard, hard’u (“hard”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌿𐍃 (hardus, “hard”), Ancient Gree…

## AI Etymology
Hard comes from Middle English hard, from Old English heard, from Proto-West Germanic *hard(ī), from Proto-Germanic *harduz, from Proto-Indo-European *kort-ús, from *kret- (“strong, powerful”). In current use, the main senses are “With a lot of effort or force” and “In a way that causes serious damage or difficulty”.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

markdown

hard

Meanings

Word forms

Adverb

Thesaurus

Appears in

Phrases (3)

Idioms (1)

Proverbs (23)

Tongue twisters (1)

Etymology

Topics

External links

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback