Criminal
Tough
Tough noun - A violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang.
Usage example: didn't want her son hanging out with the neighborhood toughs
Criminal and tough are semantically related in mean topic. Sometimes you can use "Criminal" instead the word "Tough" as a noun or an adjective, if it concerns topics such as rough.
How words are described
Both words in one sentence
- When that happens, Frank turns himself in, always getting sent to the same prison, and takes out the criminal (and the criminal's bodyguards, tough guys who want to show off, rival prison gangs, prisoners he runs into on the way, and his cellmate) before breaking out of the prison.
Source: Prefer Jail to the Protagonist - Belker would often be on the phone with his mother while booking the criminal, who smirked at the incongruity of a tough detective being nagged by his mom.
Source: Running Gagged -
This version was even carried over to Batman: The Animated Series, produced only a short time after the movie's debut, to capitalize on its popularity — although as a criminal Selina cuts and dyes her hair so often it's tough to tell sometimes.
Source: Film / Batman Returns
Cite this Source
Tough and Criminal. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 27, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/criminal/tough
Criminal & Tough. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/criminal/tough>.
Tough or Criminal. 2016. Accessed July 27, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/criminal/tough.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "criminal" and "tough" have occurred on timeline