0 present participle of toughen
2 to become difficult to deal with:
Amid toughening competition in the market, many firms are going out of business.
Just as often, they saw it as a useful indicator of illness, an inevitable side effect of drastic cures, and a toughening, salutary sensation.
Competing against the existing regime without facing any significant political risks can help to explain the toughening state approach toward it the 1990s, and its eventual repression.
There is also the possibility of toughening up the law on kerb crawling.
Just as we are toughening tests and criteria for learner drivers, we should have tougher tests for our senior citizens.
That may be one of the answers to the problem of maintaining rural lines, although the toughening-up process involved would be difficult.
The toughening of the rules in that respect makes them much stronger than the 1980 rules.
So, from that point of view, they represent a significant toughening of our stance.
One was a toughening of containment and the other was a move towards military action.
