hardscrabble

producing inferior or only a small amount of vegetation it was hard to eke out even a bare existence on the hardscrabble lands Synonyms bony (also boney), dead, desolate, barren, impoverished, infertile, poor, stark, unfertile, unproductive, wasteRelated Words bleak, inhospitable, lifeless; uncultivable, untillable; bankrupted, consumed, debilitated, depleted, diminished, drained, dried-up, enfeebled, exhausted, expended, lessened, reduced, spent, used up; arid, desert, droughty, dry, rainless, sere (also sear), thirsty, waterless; baked, dehydrated, parched, sunbakedNear Antonyms arable, tillable; green, sylvan, verdantAntonyms fertile, fruitful, lush, luxuriant, productive, rich