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
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
She has grown up hearing about her grandmother: a "kind, really caring, lovely woman with this hard as nails personality."
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2015
He had humour too – bone dry, hard as nails, and usually delivered in a sneer or a shout.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 14, 2013
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
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