hardscrabble

adjective

hard·​scrab·​ble ˈhärd-ˌskra-bəl How to pronounce hardscrabble (audio)
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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Bakersfield, his album with singer and songwriter Vince Gill, was a tribute to the classic country sound emerging from a California destination for migrants during the hardscrabble days of the Dust Bowl. Neda Ulaby, NPR, 20 Nov. 2024 Rison played with a fire first lit on the hardscrabble streets of Flint, Mich., where, as a high school star, a local mobster — Rison calls him Mafia Sal — would slip him wads of cash from time to time, urging him to pick a particular college and sign with a particular agent. Zak Keefer, The Athletic, 30 July 2024 His hardscrabble background gives him a genuine connection to the white working-class voters who animate Trump’s base and will have outsize influence in the election. Eric Cortellessa, TIME, 15 July 2024 Six weeks after the perplexing murders, across the country in a small, hardscrabble Pennsylvania town in the Poconos, Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminology graduate student, was arrested. Howard Blum, Washington Post, 26 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for hardscrabble 

Word History

First Known Use

1879, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of hardscrabble was in 1879

Dictionary Entries Near hardscrabble

Cite this Entry

“Hardscrabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hardscrabble. Accessed 7 Dec. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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