In contrast, if you refer to a person or group of people and their fanatical devotion to a person or idea, you should use either “diehard” or “die-hard,” depending on your audience. However, if you use two separate words, as in “die hard,” you are actually using a verb with an adverb, so you’re saying that something dies only with difficulty. Meanwhile, American dictionaries like Merriam-Webster and the Learner’s Dictionary list “die-hard” as an adjective and “diehard” as a noun ( source). We can use either “diehard” or “die hard” correctly in American English, but they have different functions.įor example, British English dictionaries list “diehard” as a noun but a noun that often functions as an adjective ( source). There is also a key difference here between American and British English. It is correct to use the noun “diehard” in American or British English, meaning a person devoted to a particular cause, such as “He is such a diehard.”īe aware that American English spell-checkers will not like the unhyphenated form “diehard,” especially when we don’t use it as an adjective. For example, the word would serve as an adjective in the sentence “He is a die-hard fan” ( source).Ī die-hard fan is one who continues to support the team or band in question, even when no one else around him continues to support them. You can use the adjective “die-hard” to describe a noun, usually a person or group of people. Instead, “die-hard” would speak to one’s loyalty and would be considered positive, even when used in a joking manner. However, it does not usually have a negative connotation. “Die-hard” can mean either a strong devotion to a lost cause or a strong resistance to change. When a person is trying to quit a habit that he views as destructive, such as smoking or gambling, he might excuse a small slip-up by saying, “Old habits die hard.” In this case, he would mean that, although he is trying to alter his behavior, the habit does not change easily. Grammatically, there are certain places where it is correct to say “die hard.” The most common would be to say that something dies hard, such as “Bad attitudes die hard.” Is It Grammatically Correct to Say “Die Hard”? The phrase refers to how long-held beliefs, habits, or attitudes can continue to surface, even when someone else tries to change those beliefs, habits, or attitudes ( source). In this phrase, the word “die” is a verb, and the word “hard” is an adverb telling the manner in which something dies. In the following article, we will discuss examples of using “die-hard” and “die hard.” We’ll also give you the rules to govern their usage, explaining how native speakers use both “die-hard” and “die hard” so you can improve your grammar and expand your vocabulary. Less often, you might see the noun “diehard,” signifying a person determined in some way.
We would generally use “die-hard” as an adjective to mean “intensely loyal.” On the other hand, “die hard” is a phrase containing a verb and an adverb that means something is hard to eradicate. We can use either “die hard” or “die-hard” correctly in the proper context. For example, someone may tell you, “I’m a die-hard fan!” or “Old habits die hard.” You may even hear, “She’s a dieheart follower of that band,” but which is correct? “Die hard” is the type of phrase that you will hear in various circumstances.