[hard-core] adj (1940) 1 a: of, relating to, or being part of a hard core "~ poverty" "the ~ unemployed" b: confirmed, die-hard "~ rock fans" "a ~ liberal"
2. of pornography: containing explicit descriptions of sex acts or scenes of actual sex acts--compare soft-core
3: characterized by or being the purest or most basic form of something: fundamental "a room gussied up in ~ French provincial style --John Canaday"