Something that is hard is very firm and stiff to touch and is not easily bent, cut, or broken.

Something that is hard is very difficult to do or deal with.

If you work hard doing something, you are very active or work intensely, with a lot of effort.

Hard work involves a lot of activity and effort.

If you look, listen, or think hard, you do it carefully and with a great deal of attention.

If you strike or take hold of something hard, you strike or take hold of it with a lot of force.

You can use hard to indicate that something happens intensely and for a long time.

If a person or their expression is hard, they show no kindness or sympathy.

If you are hard on someone, you treat them severely or unkindly.

If you say that something is hard on a person or thing, you mean it affects them in a way that is likely to cause them damage or suffering.

If you have a hard life or a hard period of time, your life or that period is difficult and unpleasant for you.

A hard winter or a hard frost is a very cold one.

Hard colours or sounds are harsh or bright and unpleasant to see or hear.

Hard evidence or facts are definitely true and do not need to be questioned.

Hard water contains a lot of calcium compounds that stop soap making bubbles and sometimes appear as a deposit in kettles and baths.

Hard drugs are very strong illegal drugs such as heroin or cocaine.

In phonetics, a hard sound is one such as 'c' or 'g' as pronounced in the words 'cat' or 'give', and not as in the words 'cinema' or 'general'.

If one thing is hard by another, it is very close to it.

If you feel hard done by, you feel that you have not been treated fairly.

If you say that something is hard going, you mean it is difficult and requires a lot of effort.

To be hard hit by something means to be affected very severely by it.

If someone plays hard to get, they pretend not to be interested in another person or in what someone is trying to persuade them to do.

If someone is hard put to do something or, in British English if they are hard pushed to do something, they have great difficulty doing it.

If you take something hard, you are very upset or depressed by it.