Synonyms of hard put

hard put

adjective

as in put to it

faced with difficulty or uncertainty about what to say, think, or do

she was hard put to explain her department's excessive expenditures

Synonyms & Similar Words

• put to it
• perplexed
• at a loss
• baffled
• embarrassed
• bewildered
• flustered
• confused
• nonplussed
• hard-pressed
• confounded
• put out
• disconcerted
• fazed

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• undaunted
• composed
• unfazed
• untroubled

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of hard put

Given their miserable track record, the Fed’s bureaucracy will be hard put to defend their models. —Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 19 May 2026

But you’d be hard put to find two men the heavens are less likely to cow. —The Editors, Curbed, 15 Dec. 2025

Arendt, who was accused of smuggling anti-Semitic literature out of the library to expose Hitler’s intentions to the West, defends her innocence with such intellectual rigor, conviction, and charm that the audience, like the interrogator, is hard put to decipher the truth. —airmail.news, 28 Dec. 2024

Many Americans, while understanding that Washington was essential to the success of the revolution in his role as commanding general, would be hard put to explain why he is so highly ranked as president. —Sara Georgini, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Aug. 2024

From Brazil to Germany, companies are hard put to crew up, such is the demand by series and movies. —John Hopewell, Variety, 10 May 2023

This item, which has more in common with a tabletop decoration than a functioning reticule, would be hard put to accommodate a hairbrush; a cellphone would dwarf it. —Lynn Yaeger, Town & Country, 22 Jan. 2023

Japan itself, with a stagnant economy and the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, will be hard put to sustain the necessary military buildup. —Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, 28 Nov. 2022

But with an evenly split Senate, and Democrats hard put to get to the 60-vote threshold needed to prevent Republicans from blocking their bills, Ms. Sinema – together with Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia – has come under particular fire for her refusal to scrap the filibuster. —Stephanie Hanes, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Aug. 2021