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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hardscrabble
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
Better Man follows Williams’s hardscrabble youth, his rise to fame, and the ups and downs that came with notoriety, all punctuated by interpretations of some of his most famous tracks.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hardscrabble
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
Better Man follows Williams’s hardscrabble youth, his rise to fame, and the ups and downs that came with notoriety, all punctuated by interpretations of some of his most famous tracks.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hardscrabble
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hardscrabble
Adjective
-
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
-
The food and atmosphere had people from across the city willing to venture to a desolate stretch of Bushwick.—
Jeremy Repanich,
Robb Report,
7 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Criminal justice scholars say that when scores based on immutable facts are weighted so heavily in parole decisions, prisoners from impoverished, racially segregated communities are more likely to be hurt.—
Richard A. Webster,
ProPublica,
10 Apr. 2025
-
The once-vacant lot across the street from her childhood playground on Washington Avenue is now home to Wilcox Academy, an early learning center that represents a powerful investment in a historically impoverished community.—
Raymond Pierce,
Forbes.com,
2 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
So, why would an elite striker commit to two potentially barren years?—
Mark Carey,
New York Times,
14 Apr. 2025
-
The project’s fertilizer by-product will support farmers and transform barren land into fertile farmland, according to Prasad.—
Ian Sayson,
Forbes.com,
3 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
The observations from Drewry’s and Moody’s, as well as the scenario floated by McCown, follow a bleak outlook for the middle of May out of the biggest port in the U.S.—
Glenn Taylor,
Sourcing Journal,
25 Apr. 2025
-
These economic concerns echo findings from a Federal Reserve survey last week that said Americans’ view of the economy is bleak — and getting worse.—
Shannon Carroll,
Quartz,
24 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Road conditions are rapidly deteriorating, with the percentage of roads in poor condition expected to double in two years.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
18 Apr. 2025
-
But academic research has consistently demonstrated that stadiums are poor drivers of economic growth and an analysis published last month found stadium projects spur little growth in local construction industries.—
Jonathan Shorman,
Kansas City Star,
18 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hardscrabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hardscrabble. Accessed 1 May. 2025.
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