hard-boiled

American  

[hahrd-boild] / ˈhɑrdˈbɔɪld /

adjective

1. Cooking. (of an egg) boiled in the shell long enough for the yolk and white to solidify.

2. Informal. tough; unsentimental.

   a hard-boiled vice-squad detective.

3. marked by a direct, clear-headed approach; realistic.

   a hard-boiled appraisal of the foreign situation.

4. (of detective fiction) written in a laconic, dispassionate, often ironic style for a realistic, unsentimental effect.

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hard-boiled British  

adjective

1. (of an egg) boiled until the yolk and white are solid

2. informal

   1. tough, realistic

   2. cynical

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Other Word Forms

• hard-boiledness noun

Etymology

Origin of hard-boiled

1715–25; 1895–80 hard-boiled for def. 2; hard + boiled

Example Sentences

Ms. Medina, playing the flustered, overtaxed Tiphaine, is terrific, as is Ms. Arné, whose Lucie has to toggle from hard-boiled detective to strategy-free investigator.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026

They added that while historically, visitors "turned up with hard-boiled eggs, more recently these are often switched for chocolate eggs to be rolled down the hill".

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

She was a fan of hard-boiled eggs and slices of fresh avocado, and she, too, loved to read about the pink of strawberry ice lollies and the red of sunsets and the orange of oranges.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 1, 2026

Their feast also consists of hard-boiled eggs, shrimp crackers, cup ramyeon, odeng-guk fish cake soup, sweet hotteok pancakes and naengmyeon, which is served in a stainless steel bowl.

From Salon • Jun. 27, 2025

After a time she sighed and went out into the rain, returning shortly with a hard-boiled egg.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Related Words

• hard-nosed