tough break

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tough break

noun

idiomatic, uncountable A situation resulting in misfortune or hardship; an instance of bad luck. So I close by saying that I might have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.

interjection

idiomatic An interjection of mild or insincere sympathy for someone else's misfortune. Tough break, Linda.
Similar: bad luck, hard cheese, hard lines, hard luck, tough cookies, tough luck, tough shit, tough titties, tough titty, tough toodles, tough tuchus

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MLA

"tough break." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tough%20break. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

tough break. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tough%20break

Chicago

"tough break." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tough%20break.

BibTeX

@misc{tough_break_2026,
  title = {tough break},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tough%20break},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}