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Definition of hard-ass in English:

hard-ass

adjective

North American
informal

  • Tough and uncompromising.

    ‘I just can't take her seriously as a hard-ass cop’
    • ‘The flakiness, for what it's worth, is a far better option than having another hard-ass female in Hollywood.’
    • ‘I learned to step out of the spotlight and stop making myself a hard-ass target for the attacks.’
    • ‘He was so militant, like an old-school, hard-ass chef.’
    • ‘I can still picture this hard-ass character extolling the virtues of exotic music.’
    • ‘There is something for everyone, whether you're a hard-ass rocker, a fan of sappy love songs from the fifties, or just an average Joe like me.’
    • ‘These hard-ass paratroopers faced some pretty tough challenges.’
    • ‘He's a sleazy, desperately ambitious agent who will stop at nothing to please the hard-ass newspaper columnist.’
    • ‘He often tends to play the roles of hard-ass, driven characters.’
    • ‘It's never very clear what he exactly is—a hard-ass biker thug?’
    • ‘It's an inspirational sports film about a group of ragtag student athletes egged on to greatness by their unconventional hard-ass coach.’

noun

North American
informal

  • A tough, uncompromising person.

    ‘he had a reputation as a hard-ass’
    • ‘He's perfect as a camp hard-ass, spouting absurd rhetoric in his gravelly voice while depriving the inmates of the necessities of life.’
    • ‘You often say in interviews that people misperceive you as a cynical hard-ass.’
    • ‘The colonel is an unstable hard-ass with disturbingly huge eyebrows and a gun given to him by John Wayne.’
    • ‘He doesn't shift believably between hard-ass and lover, and most of the time he actually seems bored.’
    • ‘He learns to be a hard-ass, albeit always an amusing one.’
    • ‘He tries approaching fatherhood the same way his father did—as a hard-ass—only to realize that Amy is a lot tougher than she appears.’
    • ‘The crass chief of neurosurgery is a high-strung hard-ass from Boston who makes life miserable for everyone.’
    • ‘The company recently recruited a hard-ass to manhandle the public.’
    • ‘You know, you used to be a real hard-ass, but since the company started letting us have a few at lunch, you've calmed down.’
    • ‘You have to be part diplomat and part hard-ass.’