Definition of "hard"

(of material or fluid) Solid and firm.  quotations

1. Resistant to pressure; difficult to break, cut or penetrate.  examples

2. (of drink or drugs) Strong.  examples

3. (of a normally nonalcoholic drink) Containing alcohol.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Stunned, she deleted his number and went home. Then she cracked a hard seltzer, opened her phone’s camera and filmed a TikTok video recounting the evening […].

     2023 March 1, Rachel Ellison, “Bad Dates Turn Out to Be Excellent on TikTok”, in The New York Times‎

4. (of water) High in dissolved chemical salts, especially those of calcium.  examples

5. (physics, of a ferromagnetic material) Having the capability of being a permanent magnet by being a material with high magnetic coercivity (compare soft).  examples

6. (physics, of electromagnetic radiation) Having a high energy (high frequency; short wavelength).  examples

7. (photography, of light) Made up of parallel rays, producing clearly defined shadows.  examples

(personal or social) Having a severe property; presenting difficulty.

1. Difficult or requiring a lot of effort to do, understand, experience, or deal with.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Ray found it hard to imagine having accumulated so many mannerisms before the dawn of sex, of the sexual need to please, of the staginess sex encourages or the tightly capped wells of poisoned sexual desire the disappointed must stand guard over.

     1988, Edmund White, An Oracle

   • The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters such as ostrich, wild boar and crocodile.

     2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32

2. Demanding a lot of effort to endure.  examples

3. Severe, harsh, unfriendly, brutal.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Leave off fornicating; leave the girls to the boys, and stand to thy bottle; it is a virtue becoming our years; and don’t be too hard on a wild honest young rake.

     1730, Henry Fielding, Rape upon Rape, act 4, scene 7

4. (dated) Difficult to resist or control; powerful.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The stag was too hard for the horse.

     1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […]

   • a power which will be always too hard for them

     1716 March 23 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 24. Monday, March 12. ”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721

5. (military) Hardened; having unusually strong defences.

6. (slang) Tough, muscular, badass.  quotations

   Quotations

   • I was a hard niggah, but not twisted enough to eat and socialize with my peeps knowing I was planning on robbing them before the night was over.

     2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World/Ballantine Books, page 108

Unquestionable, unequivocal.  quotations  examples

(of a road intersection) Having a comparatively larger or a ninety-degree angle.  examples

(slang, vulgar, of a male) Sexually aroused; having an erect penis.

(bodybuilding) Having muscles that are tightened as a result of intense, regular exercise.  examples

(phonetics, not comparable) Fortis.

1. Plosive.  examples

2. Unvoiced.  examples

(Slavic phonology) Velarized or plain, rather than palatalized.

(art) Having a severe property; presenting a barrier to enjoyment.

1. Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.  examples

2. Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in colour or shading.  examples

(not comparable)

1. In a physical form, not digital.  examples

2. Using a manual or physical process, not by means of a software command.  examples

(politics) Far, extreme.  examples

Of silk: not having had the natural gum boiled off.  examples

(finance) Of a market: having more demand than supply; being a seller's market.  quotations  examples

(of pornography) hardcore  examples

(manner) With much force or effort.  quotations  examples

(manner) With difficulty.  examples

(obsolete) So as to raise difficulties.  quotations

(manner) Compactly.  examples

(now archaic) Near, close.  quotations

(countable, nautical) A firm or paved beach or slope convenient for hauling vessels out of the water.  quotations  examples

(countable, motor racing) A tyre whose compound is softer than superhards, and harder than mediums.  examples

(uncountable, drugs, slang) Crack cocaine.

(uncountable, slang) Hard labor.