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
In San Isidro, a movement was born Castillo and Otero grew up in San Isidro, a working class, hardscrabble neighborhood abutting the wharfs near the Port of Havana, and became friends – one a rapper, the other a visual artist.
—
Rick Jervis, USA Today, 13 May 2026
State Republican chairman Ben Proto, who will oversee the convention, pointed to New Britain city hall because it is now run by a Democratic mayor and former state legislator who took over when Stewart declined to seek re-election and left office in the hardscrabble city.
—Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 11 May 2026
Hoyos has come a long way from a hardscrabble childhood.
—Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2026
Through it all, however, West struggled with depression and a sense of self-loathing, and had trouble with intimacy, much of it a by-product of a hardscrabble childhood in West Virginia with a domineering father.
—Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2026
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Rick Jervis, USA Today, 13 May 2026
State Republican chairman Ben Proto, who will oversee the convention, pointed to New Britain city hall because it is now run by a Democratic mayor and former state legislator who took over when Stewart declined to seek re-election and left office in the hardscrabble city.
—Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 11 May 2026
Hoyos has come a long way from a hardscrabble childhood.
—Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2026
Through it all, however, West struggled with depression and a sense of self-loathing, and had trouble with intimacy, much of it a by-product of a hardscrabble childhood in West Virginia with a domineering father.
—Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hardscrabble
Cite this Entry
“Hardscrabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hardscrabble. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
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