hardscrabble
adjective
hard·scrab·ble
ˈhärd-ˌskra-bəl 
1
a
: being or relating to a place of barren or barely arable soil
a hardscrabble farm
hardscrabble prairies
b
: getting a meager living from poor soil
a hardscrabble farmer
2
: marked by poverty
a hardscrabble mill town
a hardscrabble childhood
Examples of hardscrabble in a Sentence
He lived a hardscrabble life.
it was hard to eke out even a bare existence on the hardscrabble lands
Recent Examples on the Web
Walters had a hardscrabble upbringing in Munfordville, Kentucky.
—
Dan Piepenbring, New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2026
The first pictures McCullin took were of hoodlums and down-and-outs, subjects that reflected his own hardscrabble background.
—Andrew Pulver, Air Mail, 31 Jan. 2026
Since the mid 1800s, these hardscrabble enterprises have lain abandoned.
—Henry Wismayer, Travel + Leisure, 7 Jan. 2026
In adapting Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella, director Clint Bentley made the perfect choice in casting Edgerton as Robert Grainier, a solid working man in hardscrabble early 20th-century Idaho.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 11 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hardscrabble
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Dan Piepenbring, New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2026
The first pictures McCullin took were of hoodlums and down-and-outs, subjects that reflected his own hardscrabble background.
—Andrew Pulver, Air Mail, 31 Jan. 2026
Since the mid 1800s, these hardscrabble enterprises have lain abandoned.
—Henry Wismayer, Travel + Leisure, 7 Jan. 2026
In adapting Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella, director Clint Bentley made the perfect choice in casting Edgerton as Robert Grainier, a solid working man in hardscrabble early 20th-century Idaho.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 11 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hardscrabble
Cite this Entry
“Hardscrabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hardscrabble. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
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