as in poor
lacking money or material possessions
despite being undeniably hard up, they had too much pride to accept charity
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hard up
How to Do It Right Negotiate hard up front.
—
Lien De Pau, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
Kai Jones does not have two-way eligibility, and that matters a lot for a team hard up against the luxury tax.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 14 Aug. 2025
This letter descended to Charles Austen and thence to his granddaughters, who, hard up, sold it in the 1920s, part of a larger cache of relics and manuscripts.
—Literary Hub, 4 Aug. 2025
After decades of bringing us the incredible shrinking transistor, chipmakers are now hard up against the limits of their printing technique: Trying to use today’s ultraviolet lasers to print the next generation of circuits would be like trying to trace a fine line with a preschooler’s crayon.
—IEEE Spectrum, 30 Dec. 2011
See All Example Sentences for hard up
Lien De Pau, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
Kai Jones does not have two-way eligibility, and that matters a lot for a team hard up against the luxury tax.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 14 Aug. 2025
This letter descended to Charles Austen and thence to his granddaughters, who, hard up, sold it in the 1920s, part of a larger cache of relics and manuscripts.
—Literary Hub, 4 Aug. 2025
After decades of bringing us the incredible shrinking transistor, chipmakers are now hard up against the limits of their printing technique: Trying to use today’s ultraviolet lasers to print the next generation of circuits would be like trying to trace a fine line with a preschooler’s crayon.
—IEEE Spectrum, 30 Dec. 2011
See All Example Sentences for hard up
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hard up
Adjective
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Common travel regrets stem from preventable issues like poor planning, budget problems, and choosing the wrong companions.—
Kathleen Wong,
USA Today,
3 June 2026
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O’Farrell’s inclination for narratives propelled by brutal coincidence and fatally poor timing tenders a Hardy-esque vision of the world, one that emphasizes the rigid, often cruel limits of an individual’s jurisdiction over the course of their life.—
Rachel Vorona Cote,
Vulture,
2 June 2026
Adjective
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CalFresh is the state version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which sends an average $189 per month to low-income and impoverished Californians for food.—
Grant Stringer,
Mercury News,
26 May 2026
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Rubio said Cuba’s current crisis should be blamed on the military officials behind GAESA, which has ransacked the country’s revenue for their benefit, leaving most Cubans impoverished.—
Nora Gámez Torres,
Miami Herald,
20 May 2026
Adjective
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And as for the financial motive that Kouri was broke?—
Natalie Morales,
CBS News,
24 May 2026
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In the 1940s, the company leading the mining operation went broke and filed for bankruptcy, and many residents moved on.—
Stacey Leasca,
Travel + Leisure,
23 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hard up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hard%20up. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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