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

Informal . tough; unsentimental

a hard-boiled vice-squad detective.

marked by a direct, clear-headed approach; realistic

a hard-boiled appraisal of the foreign situation.

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

adjective

callous , firm , hard as nails , hard-line * , hard-nosed , hard-shelled , headstrong , inflexible , obdurate , obstinate , rough , stern , strict , unbending , unfeeling , cold-hearted , compassionless , hard , hardened , hardhearted , heartless , stonyhearted