as in desolate
producing inferior or only a small amount of vegetation
it was hard to eke out even a bare existence on the hardscrabble lands
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Recent Examples of hardscrabble
Commoners could look forward to a paltry thirty-five or forty years of a hardscrabble existence, without the benefit of medicine, dentistry, or a decent sewage system.
—
Arthur Krystal, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
Grant Leonard, Queens’ 43-year-old head coach, had a hardscrabble existence on the fringes of college basketball for the first decade of his career.
—Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 24 Jan. 2025
Saturday’s hardwood Egg Bowl was hardscrabble and a game of the year contender, with Mississippi State pulling the 84-81 overtime win.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 21 Jan. 2025
Luke Richardson tried in vain to coax that tenacity out of him in the NHL, often pairing him with hardscrabble players to encourage a tougher mindset.
—Mark Lazerus, The Athletic, 18 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hardscrabble
Arthur Krystal, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
Grant Leonard, Queens’ 43-year-old head coach, had a hardscrabble existence on the fringes of college basketball for the first decade of his career.
—Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 24 Jan. 2025
Saturday’s hardwood Egg Bowl was hardscrabble and a game of the year contender, with Mississippi State pulling the 84-81 overtime win.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 21 Jan. 2025
Luke Richardson tried in vain to coax that tenacity out of him in the NHL, often pairing him with hardscrabble players to encourage a tougher mindset.
—Mark Lazerus, The Athletic, 18 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hardscrabble
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hardscrabble
Adjective
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A lot of people have this idea of the north as being cold and desolate, and maybe people, once upon a time, lived up there, but don't anymore.—
Dana Feldman,
Forbes.com,
22 Apr. 2025
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The Memphis rapper began the show with dramatics, rising on a giant platform with her back to the audience as a screen behind her projected the image of a desolate street.—
John Lonsdale,
Rolling Stone,
12 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Infectious disease experts note that the vitamin is most useful in impoverished countries where children are significantly malnourished.—
Katherine Dillinger,
CNN Money,
1 May 2025
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In the meantime, the new administrators warn that the Kennedy Center is impoverished, that the facility has become shoddy and that some of its programming ill serves the American ideal.—
Mark Swed,
Los Angeles Times,
15 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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In the early 1900s, Jennie Butchart transformed the scarred land of a barren limestone quarry into a lush retreat, proving nature’s resilience.—
Cheryl Russell,
Oc Register,
11 May 2025
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The inky ocean depths are often assumed to be barren, but this is a myth, said Adrian Glover, a deep-sea ocean scientist at the UK’s Natural History Museum.—
Laura Paddison,
CNN Money,
8 May 2025
Adjective
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This bleak vision of Hollywood makes for a fascinating backdrop.—
Inkoo Kang,
New Yorker,
5 May 2025
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But Trump and his aides are now actively trying to impede this reporting and intimidate news outlets, creating a bleak backdrop to the UN’s recognition of Saturday as World Press Freedom Day.—
Brian Stelter,
CNN Money,
3 May 2025
Adjective
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Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns each added 23 points and OG Anunoby bounced back from two poor performances by scoring 20 for the Knicks, who can win the series Wednesday night at Boston.—
Brian Mahoney,
Baltimore Sun,
13 May 2025
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Boston built big second-half leads on New York in both Games 1 and 2 at home, but squandered them due to uncharacteristically poor 3-point shooting.—
Tyler Everett,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hardscrabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hardscrabble. Accessed 21 May. 2025.
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