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 cotton 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
Generations of locals left hardscrabble poverty on the Isle of Lewis, in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, for opportunities abroad.
—
Lauren Frayer, NPR, 14 Sep. 2025
Here is the emphasis on the hardscrabble beginnings and obstacles to be overcome, here is the recognition of a truly raw but once-in-a-lifetime talent that converts the nonbelivers, here are the early wins and the training montages and the tragedies and the comebacks.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 6 Sep. 2025
Here, in a former metal yard turned residential drug rehabilitation center just outside of town, the 40-year-old arrived after years of addiction that began around the time opioid pain pills flooded into the hardscrabble region’s mountains and valleys.
—Chris Kenning, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025
Shuttling between past and present, Simpson traces her mother’s hardscrabble journey as the daughter of North Carolina sharecroppers who excels in school and becomes a teacher, then a mother, then a single mother of two.
—Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hardscrabble
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Lauren Frayer, NPR, 14 Sep. 2025
Here is the emphasis on the hardscrabble beginnings and obstacles to be overcome, here is the recognition of a truly raw but once-in-a-lifetime talent that converts the nonbelivers, here are the early wins and the training montages and the tragedies and the comebacks.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 6 Sep. 2025
Here, in a former metal yard turned residential drug rehabilitation center just outside of town, the 40-year-old arrived after years of addiction that began around the time opioid pain pills flooded into the hardscrabble region’s mountains and valleys.
—Chris Kenning, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025
Shuttling between past and present, Simpson traces her mother’s hardscrabble journey as the daughter of North Carolina sharecroppers who excels in school and becomes a teacher, then a mother, then a single mother of two.
—Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 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 31 Oct. 2025.
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