Stark vs Tough - What's the difference?
stark | tough |
(obsolete) Hard, firm; obdurate.
Severe; violent; fierce (now usually in describing the weather).
* {{quote-magazine, title=The climate of Tibet: Pole-land
, date=2013-05-11, volume=407, issue=8835, page=80
, magazine=(The Economist)
(rare) Strong; vigorous; powerful.
* Sir Walter Scott
* Beaumont and Fletcher
Stiff, rigid.
* Spenser
* Shakespeare
* Ben Jonson
Hard in appearance; barren, desolate.
Complete, absolute, full.
* Ben Jonson
* Collier
* Selden
starkly; entirely, absolutely
* Fuller
* {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
, title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad
, chapter=4 Strong and resilient; sturdy.
(of food) Difficult to cut or chew.
Rugged or physically hardy.
Stubborn.
(of weather etc) Harsh or severe.
Rowdy or rough.
Difficult or demanding.
(material science) Undergoing plastic deformation before breaking.
(slang) (Used to indicate lack of sympathy)
A person who obtains things by force; a thug or bully.
As a proper noun stark
is .As an adjective tough is
strong and resilient; sturdy.As an interjection tough is
(slang) (used to indicate lack of sympathy).As a noun tough is
a person who obtains things by force; a thug or bully.As a verb tough is
to endure.stark
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) stark, starc, from (etyl) stearc, . Related to (l). Modifying naked , an alternation of original .Adjective
(er)citation, passage=Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest . It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.}}
- a stark , moss-trooping Scot
- Stark beer, boy, stout and strong beer.
- Whose senses all were straight benumbed and stark .
- Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff / Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies.
- The north is not so stark and cold.
- I picked my way forlornly through the stark , sharp rocks.
- I screamed in stark terror.
- A flower was growing, in stark contrast, out of the sidewalk.
- Consider the stark security / The common wealth is in now.
- He pronounces the citation stark nonsense.
- Rhetoric is very good or stark naught; there's no medium in rhetoric.
Derived terms
* (l)Adverb
(-)- He's gone stark , staring mad.
- She was just standing there, stark naked.
- held him strangled in his arms till he was stark dead.
citation, passage=“… That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. …”}}
Usage notes
In standard modern English, the adverb is essentially restricted to stark naked'' and phrases meaning "crazy" on the pattern of ''stark raving mad .Etymology 2
From (etyl) starken, from (etyl) .Anagrams
* * ----tough
English
Adjective
(er)- The tent, made of tough canvas, held up to many abuses.
- To soften a tough cut of meat, the recipe suggested simmering it for hours.
- Only a tough species will survive in the desert.
- He had a reputation as a tough negotiator.
- A bunch of the tough boys from the wrong side of the tracks threatened him.
- This is a tough crowd.
Derived terms
* do it tough * hang tough * supertough * tough call * tough case * tough cookie * tough crowd * tough love * tough luck * tough-minded * tough nut to crack * tough row to hoe * tough shit * tough titty * tough toodles * tough tuchus * toughen * toughie * toughish * toughly * toughness * toughy * ultratough *Interjection
(en interjection)- If you don't like it, tough !
Noun
(en noun)- They were doing fine until they encountered a bunch of toughs from the opposition.