What does "tough-mindedness" mean?

The characteristic of being tough-minded; lack of sentimentality and unswerving conviction.

What is a synonym for "tough-mindedness"?

Common synonyms include: caution, skepticism, suspicion.

Tough-mindedness

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
The characteristic of being tough-minded; lack of sentimentality and unswerving conviction. uncountable
"Subsequently turning the new insight into action—embodying the idea, producing the revolutionary behavior—requires tough-mindedness, the willingness to try out behavior and allow his or her ideas to die in his or her stead..."

Synonyms

All synonyms

caution skepticism suspicion

Example

More examples

"Subsequently turning the new insight into action—embodying the idea, producing the revolutionary behavior—requires tough-mindedness, the willingness to try out behavior and allow his or her ideas to die in his or her stead..."

Etymology

From tough-minded + -ness.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.