Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Toughness |
ToughnessNoun1. Enduring strength and energy. 2. The property of being big and strong. 3. The elasticity and hardness of a metal object; its ability to absorb considerable energy before cracking. 4. Impressive difficulty. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "toughness" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1588. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Aerospace | The ability of a metal to absorb energy and deform plastically before fracturing. Toughness is usually measured by the energy absorbed in a notch impact test, but the area under the stress-strain curve in tensile testing is also a measure of toughness. (references) |
Industry | A)(mechanics)generally, the capacity of a body to undergo deformation before fracture; b)(timber mechanics)more particularly, the capacity of wood to absorb energy(work)and withstand repeated impact loading or short-duration stresses that exceed the proportional limit. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | A. A property of a material that denotes, nominally, an intermediate value between softness and brittleness. Tensile tests show a tough material to have a fairly high tensile strength accompanied by moderate values of elongation and reduction of area b. The amount of work required to deform a body to its rupture poin. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: ToughnessSynonyms: formidability (n), huskiness (n), ruggedness (n), stamina (n), staying power (n), temper (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Coherence | Tenacity, toughness; stickiness; inseparability, inseparableness; bur, remora. |
Tenacity | Noun: {ant. } tenacity, toughness, strength; (cohesion); grip, grasp, stickiness, (cohesion); sequacity; stubbornness. (obstinacy); glue, cement, glutinousness, sequaciousness, viscidity, (semiliquidity). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Toughness |
| English words defined with "toughness": Funiliform ♦ Hornblende slate ♦ Phosphor-bronze ♦ Whitleather. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "toughness": bend test ♦ Danish flint pebbles ♦ filter-cake texture ♦ HEAT TREATER I ♦ Los Angeles abrasion testing machine ♦ METALLURGICAL TECHNICIAN ♦ pop-in value ♦ refining heat ♦ Shear Steel, shot bort ♦ vinyl acetal resins. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I was big, I had the toughness, good hand-eye coordination. (Everybody Loves Raymond; writing credit: Joe Bolster) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Holland grass, due to its toughness and well-matting roots, is ideal for stopping the drifting sand dunes along the Oregon coast. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | However that may be, I was struck by the peculiar toughness of the steel which bore so many violent blows without being worn out. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Toughness" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.42% of the time. "Toughness" is used about 173 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 |
| Noun (singular) | 99.42% | 172 | 23,722 |
| Noun (common) | 0.58% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 173 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
mental toughness | 31 |
fracture toughness | 8 |
mental toughness training | 3 |
emotional toughness | 3 |
toughness | 2 |
developing mental toughness | 2 |
applied mental toughness | 2 |
mental toughness tennis | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "toughness"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | rezistencë (drag, endurance, rebuff, resistance, resistor, stand), qëndresë (endurance, fastness, fortitude, hardiness, lasting, resistance, stamina, stand, stay, tolerance), fortësi (durability, fastness, firmness, hardness, solidity, strength), ashpërsi (acrimony, asperity, austerity, coarseness, dourness, harshness, inclemency, rigor, rigorism, rigour, roughness, savagery, severity, sharpness, tyranny). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | متانة (durability, enduringness, firmness, solidity, soundness, stoutness, strength, sturdiness, substantiality), صلابة (callosity, hardihood, hardness, hards, inflexibility, iron, perseverance, reliability, resistance, rigidity, rigorism, singleness, solidity, soundness, stability, steadiness, stiffness, stoutness, strength, stubbornness, tenacity, toughmindness), صرامة (austerity, firmness, fortitude, frankness, hardness, obduracy, rigidity, rigor, rigorism, rigour, severity, sternness, strictness, stringency, tightness), خشونة (asperity, bad manners, coarseness, crudeness, grossness, harshness, roughness, rudeness, scabrousness, severity, stringency, vulgarity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | упоритост (grit, obduracy, obstinacy, patience, perseverance, persistence, pertinacity, piggery, refractoriness, stickiness, stick-to-itiveness, stolidity, stoutness, strenuousness, stubbornness, tenacity), якост (hardiness, hardness, resilience, resiliency, solidity, stoutness, sturdiness, tensility, vertebration, vigor, vigour), трудност (ado, crux, difficulty, hardness, hardship, hurdle, involvement, knot, nicety, rough, severity, stumbling block), грубост (asperity, barbarity, broadness, callosity, crudity, curtness, foulness, harshness, incivility, indelicacy, roughness, rudeness, truculence), жестокост (barbarity, brutality, cannibalism, cruelty, excess, ferocity, fierceness, inhumanity, truculence), жилавост (resilience, resiliency, stamina, stringiness), престъпност (criminality), издръжливост (bottom, endurance, guts, mettle, patience, reliability, resistance, sand, sinews, stay, staying power, strength, tenacity, tensility, vitality, wear). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 韌性 , 韧性 (resilience, resilient). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | tvrdost (hardness, soundness, stiffness), tuhost (consistency, rigidity, solidity), přísnost (austerity, rigour, severity, sternness, stiffness, strictness, stringency, tightness), ostrost (acridity, acuteness, definition, intensity, pungency), odolnost (endurance, immunity, stamina, tolerance), houževnatost (doggedness, stiffness, tenacity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | slagstyrke (impact strength), sejhed (endurance, tenacity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | taaiheid (ductility), stootvastheid (impact strength), slagsterkte (impact strength, rebound). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | sitkeys (perseverance, persistence). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | ténacité, solidité, sévérité, rudesse, rigueur, résistence au choc, flexibilité, endurance, dureté (toughmindness), ductibilité, difficulté. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Zähigkeit (doggedness, glutinousness, hardiness, mettle, tenaciousnes, tenacity), härte (aggressiveness, cruelty, firmness, flintiness, grimness, hardness, hardship, harshness, rigorousness, rigour, robustness, roughness, rudeness, ruthlessness, savagery, severeness, severity, sharpness, stability, steeliness, stiffness, stoniness, stringency, temper, violence). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | κρουστική αντοχή (impact strength), σκληρότησ (cruelty, crustiness, hardness, inclemency, relentlessness, stoniness), σκληρότητα (bristliness, cruelty, crustiness, fellness, flintiness, hardness, harshness, inclemency, relentlessness, stoniness), αντοχή (durability, endurance, fortitude, hardihood, hardiness, resistance, resistibility, steeliness, sturdiness, tolerance), αντίσταση έναντι κρούσης (impact strength), ανθεκτικότητα (durability, fastness, longevity, persistence, robustness, tenacity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | קושי (difficulty, encumbrance, hardness, obstinacy), קשיחות (dourness, hardness, rigidity, rigour, stiffness), חספוס (coarseness, roughness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | szívósság (persistence, persistency, tenacity, wiriness), kitartás (durance, endurance, long-suffering, loylity, perseverance, persistence, persistency, stamina, steadiness, strength, sustainment, tenacity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | tenacia (patience, tenacity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | タバコモザイク病 (sound like tapping a soft belly, tab, tablet, tabloid, taboo, talc, talisman, thallium, tobacco mosaic, tough). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | タフネス . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 강인성 (Perseverance). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | reenid (doggedness, inflexibility, rigidity, starkness, stiffness, viscosity, wiriness, wiriness of person), doilleeid (difficulty, dilemma, hardship, hobble, stiffness, ticklishness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | oughnesstay tenacidade (obstinacy, persistence, pertinacity, tenaciousness, tenacity), resistência ao choque (impact strength). (various references) rezistenţã (endurance, kick, lasting, opponency, opposition, proof, reliability, reluctance, resistance, stamina, stand, stoutness, strength, tolerance of). (various references) прочность (endurance, fastness, firmness, hardness, perdurability, permanence, soundness, stoutness, strength, tenability). (various references) razdražljivost (grumpiness, irritability), osetljivost (delicacy, disincentive, perceptibility, sensibility, sensitivity, soreness, susceptibilities, susceptibility). (various references) tenacidad (obstinacy, stickiness, stubbornness, sturdiness, tenaciousness, tenacity), dureza (crustiness, dourness, hardness, harshness). (various references) seghet (ductility). (various references) zorluk (adversity, arduousness, complexity, complication, difficulty, entanglement, gaff, grueling, gruelling, hardness, hardship, hassle, hobble, rigor, rigour, rough, strain, stumbling block, tightness), sertlik (asperity, austerity, bitterness, curtness, fierceness, firmness, hardness, harshness, headiness, inclemency, intemperance, kick, pungency, rigidity, rigor, rigour, severity, sharpness, solidity, starch, sternness, stiffness, stoniness, strength, strictness, stringency, tartness, vehemence, wiriness), kabadayılık (bravado, hectorship, hooliganism, rowdiness, rowdyism), inatçılık (contrariness, cussedness, dourness, hardness, indocility, intractability, intransigence, mulishness, obduracy, obstinacy, perversity, recalcitrance, refractoriness, restiveness, self will, stickiness, stiff neck, stiffness, stubbornness, waywardness, wilfulness, willfulness), dayanıklılık (durability, endurance, fastness, fortitude, grit, hardihood, hardiness, hardness, indestructibility, lastingness, reliability, resistance, solidity, staying power, strength, sturdiness, substantiality, wear), belâlılık. (various references) цупкість, міцність (fastness, firmness, hardness, lasting, permanency, serviceableness, solidity, soundness, stoutness, strength, substantiality), пружність (bounce, elasticity, give, resilience, resiliency, spring, springiness). (various references) tính ngoan cố tính chất khó, tính dẻo dai tính cố chấp, tính dai, tính chất hắc búa (spininess), tính bền tính bền bỉ. (various references) gwydnwch. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Avestan | 200-600 | vazdvare. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "toughness": toughnesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Toughness" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: oughtness, taugness, touhness, Tuffnels. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "toughness" (pronounced tu"fnus) |
| 5 | -u" f n u s | roughness. |
| 4 | -f n u s | aloofness, deafness, stiffness. |
| 3 | -n u s | abruptness, absoluteness, acuteness, aggressiveness, agribusiness, airworthiness, alertness, alumnus, Anas, androgynous, anise, appropriateness, arbitrariness, assertiveness, astuteness, asynchronous, attentiveness, attractiveness, awareness, awfulness, awkwardness, backwardness, badness, bagginess, baldness, bearishness, bigness, bitterness, bituminous, blackness, blandness, bleakness, blindness, bluntness, boldness, bonus, boorishness, brashness, brightness, bullishness, business, callousness, calmness, carelessness, casualness, cautiousness, cavernous, cheapness, chitinous, cleanliness, cleanness, cleverness, closeness, cloudiness, clumsiness, cockiness, cohesiveness, coldness, Colonus, combativeness, compactness, competitiveness, completeness, consciousness, contagiousness, contentiousness, contrariness, Conus, coolness, correctness, coziness, craziness, creativeness, creditworthiness, creepiness, crispness, crookedness, cuteness, dampness, darkness, Deaconess, deadliness, decisiveness, defensiveness, destructiveness, directness, disingenuousness, distinctiveness, divisiveness, dizziness, dreariness, drowsiness, drunkenness, dryness, dullness, eagerness, earnestness, edginess, effectiveness, elusiveness, emptiness, evenness, exogenous, eyewitness, faintness, fairness, farsightedness, fastness, fickleness, firmness, fitness, flatness, fondness, foolishness, forcefulness, forgiveness, forthrightness, foulness, fractiousness, frankness, freshness, friendliness, frothiness, fullness, funniness, furnace, gauntness, gayness, gelatinous, gentleness, genuineness, genus, ghastliness, gluttonous, goodness, governess, graciousness, greatness, greenness, grimness, hairiness, handedness, happiness, hardness, harmfulness, harness, harshness, heinous, helplessness, highness, hoarseness, holiness, homelessness, homesickness, homogenous, hopefulness, hopelessness, humanness, idleness, illness, inclusiveness, indebtedness, indecisiveness, indigenous, ineffectiveness, ineptness, inertness, intravenous, intrusiveness, inventiveness, joblessness, Johannes, kindness, larcenous, largeness, lateness, lawlessness, laziness, lenis, lightfastness, lightness, likeness, liveliness, loneliness, lousiness, luminous, madness, Manus, meanness, membranous, menace, Minas, mindedness, minus, monotonous, mountainous, mutinous, narrowness, nastiness, nearsightedness, neatness, nervousness, newness, niceness, niggardliness, nitrogenous, nonbusiness, nonpoisonous, nosiness, nothingness, numbness, ominous, oneness, onus, openness, orderliness, otherness, outrageousness, outspokenness, pandanus, peacefulness, penis, permissiveness, persuasiveness, pervasiveness, pettiness, playfulness, poisonous, politeness, polygynous, pompousness, possessiveness, powerlessness, preparedness, queasiness, quickness, quietness, raciness, randomness, rareness, ravenous, rawness, readiness, reasonableness, rebelliousness, recklessness, redness, remoteness, resistiveness, resourcefulness, responsiveness, restiveness, restlessness, restrictiveness, richness, righteousness, rightness, riskiness, robustness, roominess, rowdiness, rudeness, ruinous, ruthlessness, sacredness, sadness, Salinas, sameness, scantiness, secretiveness, selfishness, selflessness, sensitiveness, separateness, seriousness, shakiness, shallowness, sharpness, shortness, shortsightedness, shrewdness, shyness, sickness, silliness, sinus, skittishness, slackness, sleepiness, sloppiness, slovenliness, slowness, sluggishness, slyness, smallness, smoothness, smugness, softness, solitariness, soundness, spiritedness, squeamishness, starkness, steadfastness, steadiness, steepness, sternness, stillness, stinginess, stoutness, strangeness, stubbornness, sturdiness, suddenness, suggestiveness, sweetness, swiftness, tardiness, tartness, tastiness, tenderness, tetanus, thickness, thinness, thoroughness, thoughtfulness, tightness, timeliness, tiredness, togetherness, trustworthiness, truthfulness, ugliness, unconsciousness, uneasiness, unfairness, unhappiness, uniqueness, unpleasantness, unwieldiness, unwillingness, usefulness, vagueness, vastness, venous, viciousness, villainous, vindictiveness, vividness, voluminous, wariness, wastefulness, waterishness, weakness, weariness, weightlessness, weirdness, wellness, wetness, whiteness, wholeness, wholesomeness, wickedness, wilderness, wildness, willingness, wimpiness, wistfulness, witness, wonderfulness, worldliness, worthiness, wryness. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-g-h-n-o-s-s-t-u" | |
-1 letter: gunshots, shotguns, toughens. | |
-2 letters: enoughs, gunshot, gustoes, hognuts, hotness, noughts, shoguns, shotgun, tongues, tonuses, toughen. | |
-3 letters: enough, ethnos, ghosts, gnoses, guests, gushes, gusset, hognut, honest, houses, hugest, noshes, nought, nouses, onsets, onuses, oughts, segnos, setons, setous, shogun, shotes, shouts, shunts, shutes, snouts, soughs, sought, souths, stenos, stones, sunset, thegns, thongs, togues, tongue, toshes. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-g-h-n-o-s-s-t-u" | |
+1 letter: shogunates. | |
+2 letters: doughtiness, shotgunners, toughnesses. | |
+3 letters: droughtiness, groundsheets, housesitting, thoroughness. | |
+4 letters: doughtinesses, meetinghouses, righteousness. | |
+5 letters: countinghouses, droughtinesses, flugelhornists, thoroughnesses, thoughtfulness. | |
| 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 6E 65 73 73 |
| 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 01101110 01100101 01110011 01110011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)T o u g h n e s s |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0054 006F 0075 0067 0068 006E 0065 0073 0073 |
| 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)548187737480718585 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Orthography 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
