A hard nut to crack is a difficult problem or a person who is hard to understand or persuade: The final puzzle was a hard nut to crack. Hard and tough are interchangeable here. Keep to crack, though: without it, a hard nut sounds like a tough, unpleasant guy.
When would you say a hard nut to crack?
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be a hard / tough nut to crack
- The final puzzle was a hard nut to crack.
- Our new neighbour is a tough nut to crack; he rarely says what he thinks.
- Finding the cause of that noise proved a hard nut to crack.
What changed
First versionOur new neighbour is a tough nut to break; he never says what he thinks.
RevisionOur new neighbour is a tough nut to crack; he never says what he thinks.
Break is the first verb that comes to mind for anything you smash open. But a nutshell cracks, and the idiom is built on that verb: a tough nut to crack. Replace break with crack, and the idiom works.
A tough cookie is a person who won't break: strong and stubborn in a good way. A hard nut to crack is someone hard to read or win over: He rarely says what he thinks. A piece of cake is the opposite: a task that couldn't be easier.
Your turn
Complete the idiom for a difficult problem: This mystery is a hard nut ___ crack.
Show the answer
to — After nut comes to crack, meaning in order to crack it. For crack isn't English.
Describe a problem or a person that took you a long time to figure out. Use a hard nut to crack.
The missing file was a hard nut to crack because nobody remembered moving it.
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