Recent Examples on the WebOne, that Stewart’s very un-Hollywood lack of a mean streak is nonetheless hard-won, the result of a long, painful process of forgiving both himself and his father—in other words, of dealing with his own daddy issues.—WIRED, 3 Oct. 2023 For Lee, Nowon was hard-won, though rather meteorically.—Shauna Lyon, The New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2023 But the federal recognition was hard-won, having come after a wave of unrest among workers and labor activists brought the issue of workers' rights into public view.—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 4 Sep. 2023 In a state where political decisions are often a balancing act among factions — from progressives to pro-development Democrats to powerful labor unions — some worry that the rush to rebuild will shred hard-won environmental and cultural protections.—Shawn Hubler, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2023 The final passages of ‘Passages’ feel at once sad and inevitable, suffused with a wisdom that, for Martin and Agathe, feels both hard-edged and hard-won.—Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 4 Aug. 2023 In the course of hip-hop’s own evolution, Wayne’s career is a bridge between then and now, between the genre’s storied, hard-won past and its next-gen, global future.—Gail Mitchell, Billboard, 2 Aug. 2023 On TikTok, though, a label like gastroparesis carries weight, regardless of its clinical particulars, a stamp of legitimacy often styled as hard-won.—WIRED, 1 Aug. 2023 One of the most troubling fronts in this War on Woke has been the push to strip LGBTQ Americans of their fundamental and hard-won human rights.—Jeff Raikes, Forbes, 17 July 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hard-won.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Share