a tough/hard row to hoe

noun phrase

: something that is difficult to do or deal with

I am considering becoming a doctor, but I know that it's a tough row to hoe.

Examples of a tough/hard row to hoe in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Proving to a court or a jury that generative AI has intent is going to be quite a tough row to hoe. — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 9 Mar. 2026

First, keeping the mental health chat outside of the grips of the all-encompassing tuning toward user engagement is a tough row to hoe. — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 6 Feb. 2026

That’s a tough row to hoe in this new era of data center bidding wars. — Phoebe Liu, Forbes.com, 16 Jan. 2026

That’s a tall order and will undoubtedly have lots of holes and be a tough row to hoe. — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 30 July 2025

Both factors leave mods new and old with a tough row to hoe moving forward. — Wes Davis, The Verge, 5 Sep. 2023

Opener Gordie Brown had a tough row to hoe, with an audience eager for the main event. — Matthew J. Palm, Orlando Sentinel, 18 Jan. 2023

The new director of the nation's top public health institute is looking at a tough row to hoe. — Star Tribune, 14 Feb. 2021