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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hardscrabble
The books detail Ditlevsen’s hardscrabble childhood, her flourishing early career as a poet and her catastrophic addictions, which left her wedded to a psychotic doctor and hopelessly dependent on opioids by her 30s.
—
New York Times, 8 July 2024
Bakersfield, his album with singer and songwriter Vince Gill, was a tribute to the classic country sound emerging from a California destination for migrants during the hardscrabble days of the Dust Bowl.
—Neda Ulaby, NPR, 20 Nov. 2024
Rison played with a fire first lit on the hardscrabble streets of Flint, Mich., where, as a high school star, a local mobster — Rison calls him Mafia Sal — would slip him wads of cash from time to time, urging him to pick a particular college and sign with a particular agent.
—Zak Keefer, The Athletic, 30 July 2024
His hardscrabble background gives him a genuine connection to the white working-class voters who animate Trump’s base and will have outsize influence in the election.
—Eric Cortellessa, TIME, 15 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for hardscrabble 
New York Times, 8 July 2024
Bakersfield, his album with singer and songwriter Vince Gill, was a tribute to the classic country sound emerging from a California destination for migrants during the hardscrabble days of the Dust Bowl.
—Neda Ulaby, NPR, 20 Nov. 2024
Rison played with a fire first lit on the hardscrabble streets of Flint, Mich., where, as a high school star, a local mobster — Rison calls him Mafia Sal — would slip him wads of cash from time to time, urging him to pick a particular college and sign with a particular agent.
—Zak Keefer, The Athletic, 30 July 2024
His hardscrabble background gives him a genuine connection to the white working-class voters who animate Trump’s base and will have outsize influence in the election.
—Eric Cortellessa, TIME, 15 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for hardscrabble
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hardscrabble
Adjective
-
For the scenes that take place in the Human World, the crew is going to shoot in a desolate part of Iceland.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
27 Jan. 2025
-
What's more, the plane was completely encircled by massive screens that projected high-resolution videos of desolate Alaskan wilderness.—
Marco della Cava,
USA TODAY,
23 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Guatemala, a small, impoverished nation scarred by a brutal civil war, has a substantial undocumented population in the United States.—
Daniele Volpe,
New York Times,
21 Jan. 2025
-
The workshop's initial mission was to provide a trade for widows and other impoverished Palestinian women.—
Lauren Frayer,
NPR,
18 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
The Anatolian mountains, where Ali tends to a barren garden, provide a sinister backdrop from which anything, not just a vagabond dropped as if from the sky, can suddenly appear.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
25 Jan. 2025
-
The streets are barren, save for occasional officials’ vehicles.—
Katie Kilkenny,
The Hollywood Reporter,
22 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Matt Harrison, president of Kuka Home North America, which has a furniture manufacturing base in Monterrey, fears the future could be bleak.—
David Culver,
CNN,
18 Jan. 2025
-
The negotiations have seemingly stalled and the market for him is bleak.—
Yaakov Katz,
Newsweek,
16 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Understand that poor sleep hygiene can negatively impact the quantity and quality of sleep.—
Dominique Fluker,
Essence,
24 Jan. 2025
-
The Texans’ offensive line was mostly poor this season, unable to consistently protect Stroud.—
The Athletic NFL Staff,
The Athletic,
24 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near hardscrabble
Cite this Entry
“Hardscrabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hardscrabble. Accessed 2 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share