Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Toughen |
ToughenVerb1. Make tough or tougher; "This experience will toughen her". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "toughen" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1880. (references) |
Note: Toughen \Tough"en\, intransitive verb. t. [imperative past participle Toughened; present participle verb or noun Toughening.]. (Websters 1913) |
Crosswords: Toughen |
| English words defined with "toughen": anneal ♦ Planish ♦ temper, Toughening. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "toughen": Squat to Pee. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Toughen you up. (Rocky IV; writing credit: Sylvester Stallone) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | High school Victory Corps. Boys at Flushing High School, Queens, New York, toughen up by methods similiar to those used in Commando training. Ability to cover distances quickly despite obstacles is developed by the school's ranger course which these boys. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | New Zealand | Legislation currently before Parliament would toughen the maximum prison sentence for copyright piracy from three months to five years. (references) |
Colombia | In December 1996 and February 1997, however, the Colombian Congress passed legislation to toughen sentencing, asset forfeiture, and money-laundering penalties. (references) | |
Turkey | The law's provisions also toughen conditions for establishing new banks or branches, set credit limits to protect bank solvency, and strengthen regulatory and sanctioning powers, including authorizing the board to merge weak banks with stronger ones. (references) | |
Trade | Switzerland | Consumer organizations have shown, however, that there is still a long way to go. The Swiss Federal Government, as a result and in connection with a proposed revision of the existing antitrust legislation, is planning to toughen the anti-cartel law. (references) |
Worker Rights | Nepal | Enforcement of antitrafficking statutes remains sporadic, but the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MOWCSW) has introduced legislation to toughen penalties against traffickers. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Toughen" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 97.30% of the time. "Toughen" is used about 37 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 97.3% | 36 | 57,479 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 2.7% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 37 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "toughen": toughen oneself up ♦ toughen up. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| Language | Translations for "toughen"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | kalit (anneal, harden, quench, season, temper), forcoj (back, bake, brace and bit, cement, consolidate, cultivate, harden, increase the strength, invigorate, potentiate, redouble, reinforce, strengthen, stretch, tighten), ashpërsoj (aggravate, coarsen, empoison, granulate, roughen). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | متن, قسى (braze, chill, harden, stiffen, tighten), خشن (boorish, bristly, coarse, crude, gross, gruff, ill mannered, impolite, indelicate, jagged, mannerless, plebeian, rasping, raucous, rough, roughen, rowdy, rude, rugged, rustic, sand, scabrous, scratchy, stiff, surly, tough, uncivil, uncouth, vulgar), أصبح قويا. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | обръгвам, заяквам (become stronger, blow harder, harden, improve, thrive), закалявам (anneal, case harden, draw, harden, quench, season, set up, steel), загрубявам (become coarsened, coarsen, indurate, roughen). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 变坚韧 (toughened, Toughening). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | ztužit, zpevnit (firm, reinforce, stabilize), zpřísnit. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | مثل پی شدن , سفت کردن (Congeal, Firm, Fix, Jell, Stiff, Tighten, Tone), سفت شدن (Tighten). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | sitkistyä, sitkistää. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | racornir. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | zäher machen, verschärfen (aggravate, exacerbate, heighten, increase, intensify, tighten, to aggravate, to get worse), stählen (harden, inure, season, temper), hart machen (harden, harden up, temper), härten (harden, harden up, hardening, hardnesses, indurate, severities, temper, to cure, to indurate), abhärten (harden, harden oneself, inure, temper, toughen up). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | σκληρύνω (calcify, harden, petrify, steel, stiffen), σκληρύνομαι (calcify, stiffen), τραχύνω (rough, roughen, shag), τραχύνομαι (roughen). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | ל"תקשות (harden, ossify, set), ל"קשיח (harden, stiffen), ל"קשות (harden, stiffen). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | megkeményít (harden, stiffen, to harden, to sear, to sere, to stiffen, to toughen). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | temprare (anneal, be strengthened, strengthen), indurirsi (bake, harden, stiffen), indurire (case harden, harden, hardening, stiffen). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | reenaghey (rope, rope of beer, stiffen, toughening), creoighey (anneal, annealing, indurate, induration, steel, steel heart, toughening). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | oughentay robustecer, fortalecer (arm, beef up, brace, build up, confirm, consolidate, fortify, invigorate, nerve, reinforce, shore up, stiffen, strengthen), enrijar-se, enrijar (harden), endurecer (bronze, cake, coarsen, harden, indurate, sear, set, stiffen). (various references) se întãri (cake, firm, harden, intensify, recover tone, steady, stiffen), se înãspri (coarsen, roughen). (various references) делаться плотным, делать жестким, делать плотным. (various references) prekaliti (anneal, inure, steel). (various references) endurecer (bake, bind, cake, harden, inure, ossify, sear, set, stiffen, toughen up). (various references) styrka (establishment, force, fortify, impact, intensity, invigorate, kick, loudness, lustiness, manpower, might, power, probate, prove, sinew, stamina, strength, strengthen, validate, vigor, vigour), stärka (clearstarch, consolidate, fortify, invigorate, starch, strengthen), göra segare, bli starkare (become stronger, increase, strengthen), bli segare, bli hårdare. (various references) zorluklara alışmak, sertleştirmek (anneal, cure, harden, indurate, sharpen, size, solidify, steel, stiffen, temper), sertleşmek (become hard, become tough, freshen, freshen up, get a hard on, harden, have a hard on, indurate, solidify, stiffen, temper, tighten, tighten up), katılaştırmak (concrete, deaden, fixate, harden, indurate, ossify, sear, sinter, solidify, stiffen). (various references) ставати жорстким, робити жорстким (anchylose). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "toughen": toughened, toughening, toughens. (additional references) | |
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"Toughen" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Etoughe, foughten, Tauchen, Tieghem, togen, touge, tougne, towen, Tuffah, tuffen, Tuffnel, tugmen. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "toughen" (pronounced tu"fun) |
| 4 | -u" f u n | muffin. |
| 3 | -f u n | acetaminophen, deafen, dolphin, endorphin, Griffon, hyphen, ibuprofen, morphin, often, orphan, paraffin, siphon, soften, stiffen, syphon, tamoxifen. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-g-h-n-o-t-u" | |
-1 letter: enough, hognut, nought, tongue. | |
-2 letters: ought, teugh, thegn, thong, togue, tough, ungot. | |
-3 letters: gent, genu, gone, gout, hent, hone, hong, huge, hung, hunt, note, then, thou, thug, tone, tong, tune, tung, unto. | |
-4 letters: ego, eng, eon, eth, gen, get, gnu, got, gun, gut, hen, het, hoe, hog, hon, hot, hue, hug, hun, hut, net. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-g-h-n-o-t-u" | |
+1 letter: boughten, foughten, toughens. | |
+2 letters: shogunate, toughened, toughness. | |
+3 letters: beshouting, outechoing, outhearing, retouching, shogunates, shotgunned, shotgunner, toughening, untogether, youthening. | |
+4 letters: doughtiness, dreadnought, glutathione, groundsheet, outcheating, outhomering, outreaching, outscheming, outweighing, overhunting, scouthering, shotgunners, toughnesses, underbought, undergrowth, unrighteous. | |
+5 letters: doughnutlike, dreadnoughts, droughtiness, glutathiones, groundsheets, hematogenous, heterogenous, housesitting, interborough, interwrought, meetinghouse, outachieving, outpreaching, overhuntings, silhouetting, thoroughness, truncheoning, undergrowths, upholstering. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)54 6F 75 67 68 65 6E |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)- --- ..- --. .... . -. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010100 01101111 01110101 01100111 01101000 01100101 01101110 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)T o u g h e n |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0054 006F 0075 0067 0068 0065 006E |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)54818773747180 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Images: Photo Album | 5. Quotations: Non-fiction 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Derivations 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Orthography | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
