Meaning & use
toughing it out
Last updated
“toughing it out” is a form of “tough out”.
Meanings
phraseidiominformal
Enduring a difficult or unpleasant situation without giving up, until it is over.
Grammar: Used as a continuous verb phrase; the pronoun 'it' stays fixed between 'toughing' and 'out'.
Patterns
- be toughing it out
- tough it out until something
- tough it out for a period
She's been toughing it out at her job until she finds something better.
The team is toughing it out through a long losing streak.
Instead of complaining, they just toughed it out and finished the project.
phraseidiominformal
To refuse to quit or complain during hardship, showing stubborn endurance.
Grammar: Often used with 'just' to suggest a plain, uncomplaining attitude.
Patterns
- just tough it out
- tough it out alone
He decided to just tough it out rather than ask for help.
You can't always tough it out; sometimes you need support.
Word forms
| base form | tough it out |
|---|---|
| third person singular | toughs it out |
| past tense | toughed it out |
| past participle | toughed it out |
| -ing form | toughing it out |
Common combinations
- tough it out
- They had to tough it out until the storm passed.
- just tough it out
- Just tough it out for one more week.
- toughing it out alone
- He was toughing it out alone without telling anyone.
- tough it out through something
- She toughed it out through months of training.
- decide to tough it out
- We decided to tough it out instead of quitting.
Synonyms and how they differ
- persevere
- More formal and often positive; 'toughing it out' stresses simply putting up with pain or boredom.
- endure
- Neutral and slightly formal; it can take an object ('endure pain'), while 'tough it out' cannot.
- stick it out
- Very close in meaning and equally informal, but it often suggests staying until something finishes.
- hang in there
- An encouraging phrase rather than a description of action; it means 'keep going'.
Opposites
Word family
- tough adjective
- Strong and able to withstand difficulty.
- toughness noun
- The quality of being strong and able to endure.
- toughly adverb
- In a strong or determined way.
- tough out verb
- The base phrasal verb meaning to endure something.
Commonly confused: toughing it out or tough it up? toughing it out or rough it?
toughing it out vs tough it up
Not a standard phrase; the correct idiom is 'tough it out', meaning to endure.
toughing it out vs rough it
Means to live without comforts, such as camping; it is about simple conditions, not endurance of hardship.
Practice
Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Choose one answer.
The fixed idiom is 'tough it out', with 'it' between the verb and 'out'. Option 2 keeps that order. Option 0 wrongly adds an object after 'out', and options 1 and 3 put 'it' in the wrong place.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “toughing it out”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.