hard as nails
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It was that he had all the best qualities you’d want in somebody; his heart of gold, and then you couple that with him just being hard as nails and tough, no quit ever.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2025
This time 007 was an ageing hero; older, wiser and self-deprecating but ultimately still as hard as nails.
From BBC • Oct. 31, 2020
On these second-act hits, Tucker was no longer the wild and wise child; she was a full-grown romantic, who managed to be, at the same time, hard as nails.
From The New Yorker • Aug. 23, 2019
The death of his son has pushed Cave further into fragility, though he is as hard as nails in some ways and more in control of his audience than ever.
From The Guardian • Jun. 21, 2019
A week later we passed the broth shack, and there was a sixty-year-old woman working there, hard as nails, dishing out consommé.
From "Landscape with Invisible Hand" by M.T. Anderson
From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
