What's the difference between hard and harsh?

Hard


Definition:

  • (superl.) Not easily penetrated, cut, or separated into parts; not yielding to pressure; firm; solid; compact; -- applied to material bodies, and opposed to soft; as, hard wood; hard flesh; a hard apple.
  • (superl.) Difficult, mentally or judicially; not easily apprehended, decided, or resolved; as a hard problem.
  • (superl.) Difficult to accomplish; full of obstacles; laborious; fatiguing; arduous; as, a hard task; a disease hard to cure.
  • (superl.) Difficult to resist or control; powerful.
  • (superl.) Difficult to bear or endure; not easy to put up with or consent to; hence, severe; rigorous; oppressive; distressing; unjust; grasping; as, a hard lot; hard times; hard fare; a hard winter; hard conditions or terms.
  • (superl.) Difficult to please or influence; stern; unyielding; obdurate; unsympathetic; unfeeling; cruel; as, a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character.
  • (superl.) Not easy or agreeable to the taste; stiff; rigid; ungraceful; repelling; as, a hard style.
  • (superl.) Rough; acid; sour, as liquors; as, hard cider.
  • (superl.) Abrupt or explosive in utterance; not aspirated, sibilated, or pronounced with a gradual change of the organs from one position to another; -- said of certain consonants, as c in came, and g in go, as distinguished from the same letters in center, general, etc.
  • (superl.) Wanting softness or smoothness of utterance; harsh; as, a hard tone.
  • (superl.) Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.
  • (superl.) Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in the coloring or light and shade.
  • (adv.) With pressure; with urgency; hence, diligently; earnestly.
  • (adv.) With difficulty; as, the vehicle moves hard.
  • (adv.) Uneasily; vexatiously; slowly.
  • (adv.) So as to raise difficulties.
  • (adv.) With tension or strain of the powers; violently; with force; tempestuously; vehemently; vigorously; energetically; as, to press, to blow, to rain hard; hence, rapidly; as, to run hard.
  • (adv.) Close or near.
  • (v. t.) To harden; to make hard.
  • (n.) A ford or passage across a river or swamp.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Lucy and Ed will combine coverage of hard and breaking news with a commitment to investigative journalism, which their track record so clearly demonstrates”.
  • (2) Sierra Leone is one of the three West Africa nations hit hard by an Ebola epidemic this year.
  • (3) Topical and systemic antibiotic therapy is common in dermatology, yet it is hard to find a rationale for a particular route in some diseases.
  • (4) Given Australia’s number one position as the worst carbon emitter per capita among major western nations it seems hardly surprising that islanders from Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and other small island developing states have been turning to Australia with growing exasperation demanding the country demonstrate an appropriate response and responsibility.
  • (5) They had learned through hard experience what Frederick Douglass once taught -- that freedom is not given, it must be won, through struggle and discipline, persistence and faith.
  • (6) In 60 rhesus monkeys with experimental renovascular malignant arterial hypertension (25 one-kidney and 35 two-kidney model animals), we studied the so-called 'hard exudates' or white retinal deposits in detail (by ophthalmoscopy, and stereoscopic color fundus photography and fluorescein fundus angiography, on long-term follow-up).
  • (7) It is a moment to be grateful for what remains of Labour's hard left: an amendment to scrap the cap was at least tabled by John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn but stood no chance.
  • (8) She stopped working only when the pain made it hard for her to get to work.
  • (9) He was reclusive, I know that, and he was often given a hard time for it.
  • (10) This defeat, though, is hardly a good calling card for the main job.
  • (11) Since this test is easily performed and hardly stresses the patient, it should routinely be the initial one for the diagnosis of renal osteopathy.
  • (12) Never become so enamored of your own smarts that you stop signing up for life’s hard classes.
  • (13) But I don't wish to be too hard on the judge for not taking that view.
  • (14) Our campaign has been going for some time and each step in our progress has been hard won, by campaigners paid and volunteer alike.
  • (15) I am rooting hard for you.” Ronald Reagan simply told his former vice-president Bush: “Don’t let the turkeys get you down.” By 10.30am Michelle Obama and Melania Trump will join the outgoing and incoming presidents in a presidential limousine to drive to the Capitol.
  • (16) All the same, it's hard to approach the school, which charges nearly £28,000 for boarders and nearly £19,000 for day girls and is sometimes called "the girls' Eton", without a few prejudices.
  • (17) Governmental officials as well as medical scientists in Taiwan have worked hard in recent years to develop and to implement various measures, such as prenatal diagnosis and neonatal screening, to lower the incidence of hereditary diseases and mental retardation in the population.
  • (18) Cooper, who was briefly a social worker in Los Angeles, also suggests working hard to build a rapport with colleagues in hotdesking situations.
  • (19) Critics of wind power peddle the same old myths about investment in new energy sources adding to families' fuel bills , preferring to pick a fight with people concerned about the environment, than stand up to vested interests in the energy industry, for the hard-pressed families and pensioners being ripped off by the energy giants.
  • (20) The spirit is great here, the players work very hard, we kept the belief when we were in third place and now we are here.

Harsh


Definition:

  • (a.) Rough; disagreeable; grating
  • (a.) disagreeable to the touch.
  • (a.) disagreeable to the taste.
  • (a.) disagreeable to the ear.
  • (a.) Unpleasant and repulsive to the sensibilities; austere; crabbed; morose; abusive; abusive; severe; rough.
  • (a.) Having violent contrasts of color, or of light and shade; lacking in harmony.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Federal judges who blocked the bans cited harsh rhetoric employed by Trump on the campaign trail , specifically a pledge to ban all Muslims from entering the US and support for giving priority to Christian refugees, as being reflective of the intent behind his travel ban.
  • (2) The first problem facing Calderdale is sheep-rustling Happy Valley – filmed around Hebden Bridge, with its beautiful stone houses straight off the pages of the Guardian’s Lets Move To – may be filled with rolling hills and verdant pastures, but the reality of rural issues are harsh.
  • (3) On referral to our clinic, his physical examination and tape recording were characterized by harsh inspiratory stridor.
  • (4) There are harsh lessons in football and we have learned some over the last week.” Two James Milner penalties and goals from the impressive Adam Lallana, Sadio Mané and Philippe Coutinho took Liverpool’s tally to 24 in eight games.
  • (5) The tougher external environment in 2015 means that our businesses and functions need to work … to take a number of measures in response to the harsh trading environment,” Dudley said, according to a memo reported by Reuters.
  • (6) I couldn't shake the harsh words from my head and worried about if, or when, they would spill over into real life.
  • (7) A former senior CIA official said the secretary of state at the time, Colin Powell, eventually was informed about the program and sat in meetings in which harsh interrogation techniques were discussed.
  • (8) The results indicate the presence of carbohydrate epitopes buried within collagenous polypeptides that are exposed by harsh denaturing conditions.
  • (9) Official papers released by the National Archives show that the "wets" – notably Jim Prior, Peter Walker, Ian Gilmour, Mark Carlisle, Lord Soames and Francis Pym – were able to demonstrate that a majority of the cabinet rejected as unnecessarily harsh Sir Geoffrey Howe's demands for further public spending cuts and tax cuts.
  • (10) We report a case of a 17 year old boy who was referred for evaluation of a large anterior mediastinal mass, causing dyspnea and cough and resulting in a harsh systolic murmur.
  • (11) I appeal to the king of Saudi Arabia to exercise his power to halt the public flogging by pardoning Mr Badawi, and to urgently review this type of extraordinarily harsh penalty.” Badawi’s case was one of several recent prosecutions of activists.
  • (12) • Very robust questioning, known as the harsh approach, could be banned – or if not "the approach should not include an analogy with a military drill sergeant".
  • (13) He said he did not oppose the criminalisation of homosexuality but said imprisonment and the death penalty are too harsh.
  • (14) Fellow opposition activists and sympathisers took the harsh sentence as a sign that heavy jail terms awaited the rest.
  • (15) Pledge news: harsh • 26 Jan , Darragh MacAnthony, Peterborough chairman on the "incredibly harsh" abuse by fans of manager Mark Cooper: "Nobody has given the bloke a chance.
  • (16) But initial fan reaction to the first teaser trailers was harsh.
  • (17) The probability of skin-galvanic reaction appearance was harshly decreased.
  • (18) Offshore detention with increased isolation in remote and harsh circumstances exaggerates that adversity.
  • (19) Pictures of the concentration camps served to reinforce the necessity of the war and its unavoidably harsh economic legacy.
  • (20) If you're in doubt of the impact this can have, "brand imagery" studies show that when participants smoke the exact same cigarettes presented in lighter coloured packs, or in packs with "mild" in the name, they rate the smoke as lighter and less harsh, simply through the power of suggestion.