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
Shahn was known as a social realist: a painter of hardscrabble life who registered every spasm and twitch of the body politic, from the Great Depression to Vietnam.
—
Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 24 June 2025
The symbolism wasn’t lost on him: a kid from a hardscrabble area in his hometown now working in the posh tiny country perched on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
—Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 13 June 2025
Dalton developed a passion for hardscrabble rural agriculture in his first job, teaching biology and chemistry in a secondary school in Kenya.
—Peter Slevin, New Yorker, 9 June 2025
And while the epicenter of this movement is in Hardwick, Vermont – a town of 1,000 people that has transformed itself from a hardscrabble rural hamlet into a mecca of food and sustainability – the impacts go well beyond it.
—Riley Robinson, Christian Science Monitor, 8 June 2025
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Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 24 June 2025
The symbolism wasn’t lost on him: a kid from a hardscrabble area in his hometown now working in the posh tiny country perched on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
—Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 13 June 2025
Dalton developed a passion for hardscrabble rural agriculture in his first job, teaching biology and chemistry in a secondary school in Kenya.
—Peter Slevin, New Yorker, 9 June 2025
And while the epicenter of this movement is in Hardwick, Vermont – a town of 1,000 people that has transformed itself from a hardscrabble rural hamlet into a mecca of food and sustainability – the impacts go well beyond it.
—Riley Robinson, Christian Science Monitor, 8 June 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 6 Jul. 2025.
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