hard knocks

plural noun

: rough, unsparing treatment (as in use or in life)

Commercial-strength squares—baked clay, ceramic, vinyl or rubber stand up to hard knocks at home.

—Apartment Life

especially : difficult or painful experiences or circumstances

This is a testimonial, above all, of hard knocks, from a mother's absence and a family's sacrifice to care for his older, tubercular brother to the betrayal by White House patrons and staff.

—Roger Morris

—often used in the phrase school of hard knocks

Romances with men are the curriculum you'll need to determine what's right for you and what isn't. I'd prefer if you'd learn quickly and easily, rather than at the school of hard knocks.

—Dave Singleton

Examples of hard knocks in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Mazzoni, like others, learns from his mistakes, a process his father referred to as the school of hard knocks. —Doug Ross, Chicago Tribune, 9 May 2025

The movie follows a teenager raised in a farming community in the Eastern department of Jura who embarks on a mission to make a prize-winning wheel of Comté cheese in the face of a series of hard knocks. —Max Goldbart, Deadline, 28 Mar. 2025

Turns out, all those early hard knocks paid dividends for the younger Bech brother, propelling him to the cusp of an NFL career. —Michael Marot, Chicago Tribune, 1 Mar. 2025

He’s taken a couple of other hard knocks throughout the season, too. —Shayna Goldman, The Athletic, 21 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1758, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for hard knocks

• botox
• checkbox
• comox
• cornstalks
• cowpox
• crosswalks
• deadlocks
• detox
• feedstocks
• firebox
• gearbox
• hemlocks