hard as nails
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
I can fight for whatever I want and I'm hard as nails.’
Hard as nails: After a decade of demolition work in the top tier, Peter Winterbottom's durability is the stuff of which legends are made.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Simile (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “hard as nails” mean?
Insensitive.
Is “hard as nails” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.