verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To make tough. transitive

   "The new training program is designed to toughen the athletes."

2. 2
   make tough or tougher wordnet
3. 3
   To become tough. intransitive

Synonyms

All synonyms

acclimateacclimatizeannealbe toughbeef upbrace

Example

More examples

"The families demanded for the law to toughen."

Etymology

From tough + -en.

Related phrases

toughen up

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