erect,
tumid upright in position or posture; "an erect stature"; "erect flower stalks"; "for a dog, an erect tail indicates aggression"; "a column still vertical amid the ruins"; "he sat bolt upright"
firm,
solid strong and sure; "a firm grasp"; "gave a strong pull on the rope"
unyielding resistant to physical force or pressure; "an unyielding head support"
hard -
dispassionate; "took a hard look"; "a hard bargainer";
soft not brilliant or glaring; "the moon cast soft shadows"; "soft pastel colors"; "subdued lighting"
difficult,
hard not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure; "a difficult task"; "nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access"; "difficult times"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?"
insensitive not responsive to physical stimuli; "insensitive to radiation"
merciless,
unmerciful having or showing no mercy; "the merciless enemy"; "a merciless critic"; "gave him a merciless beating"
bad feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad'); "my throat feels bad"; "she felt bad all over"; "he was feeling tough after a restless night"
hard -
(of speech sounds); produced with the back of the tongue raised toward or touching the velum; "Russian distinguished between hard consonants and palatalized or soft consonants"
soft not brilliant or glaring; "the moon cast soft shadows"; "soft pastel colors"; "subdued lighting"
hard -
very strong or vigorous; "strong winds"; "a hard left to the chin"; "a knockout punch"; "a severe blow"
hard -
not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure; "a difficult task"; "nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access"; "difficult times"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?"
easy obtained with little effort or sacrifice, often obtained illegally; "easy money"
demanding requiring more than usually expected or thought due; especially great patience and effort and skill; "found the job very demanding"; "a baby can be so demanding"
arduous difficult to accomplish; demanding considerable mental effort and skill; "the arduous work of preparing a dictionary"
embarrassing,
unenviable,
sticky,
awkward causing to feel shame or chagrin or vexation; "the embarrassing moment when she found her petticoat down around her ankles"; "it was mortifying to know he had heard every word"
baffling,
problematic,
problematical,
elusive,
knotty,
tough making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe; "a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home"
catchy,
tricky having concealed difficulty; "a catchy question"; "a tricky recipe to follow"
ticklish,
touchy,
delicate exquisitely fine and subtle and pleasing; susceptible to injury; "a delicate violin passage"; "delicate china"; "a delicate flavor"; "the delicate wing of a butterfly"
fractious unpredictably difficult in operation; likely to be troublesome; "rockets were much too fractious to be tested near thickly populated areas"; "fractious components of a communication system"
hard-fought requiring great effort; "a hard-fought primary"
herculean extremely difficult; requiring the strength of a Hercules; "a herculean task"
nasty,
tight exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent; "a nasty problem"; "a good man to have on your side in a tight situation"
rocky,
rough full of hardship or trials; "the rocky road to success"; "they were having a rough time"
rugged,
tough sturdy and strong in constitution or construction; enduring; "with a house full of boys you have to have rugged furniture"
serious requiring effort or concentration; complex and not easy to answer or solve; "raised serious objections to the proposal"; "the plan has a serious flaw"
hard -
characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort; "worked their arduous way up the mining valley"; "a grueling campaign"; "hard labor"; "heavy work"; "heavy going"; "spent many laborious hours on the project"; "set a punishing pace"
sonant,
voiced,
soft produced with vibration of the vocal cords; "a frequently voiced opinion"; "voiced consonants such as `b' and `g' and `z'";
Adverb
hard -
with effort or force or vigor; "the team played hard"; "worked hard all day"; "pressed hard on the lever"; "hit the ball hard"; "slammed the door hard"
hard -
slowly and with difficulty; "prejudices die hard"
hard -
causing great damage or hardship; "industries hit hard by the depression"; "she was severely affected by the bank's failure"
hard -
earnestly or intently; "thought hard about it"; "stared hard at the accused"
hard -
with pain or distress or bitterness; "he took the rejection very hard"
hard -
very near or close in space or time; "it stands hard by the railroad tracks"; "they were hard on his heels"; "a strike followed hard upon the plant's opening"
