hard put
adjective
: barely able : faced with difficulty or perplexity
was hard put to find an explanation
Synonyms
Examples of hard put in a Sentence
she was hard put to explain her department's excessive expenditures
Recent Examples on the Web
Many Americans, while understanding that Washington was essential to the success of the revolution in his role as commanding general, would be hard put to explain why he is so highly ranked as president.
—
Sara Georgini, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Aug. 2024
From Brazil to Germany, companies are hard put to crew up, such is the demand by series and movies.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 10 May 2023
But with an evenly split Senate, and Democrats hard put to get to the 60-vote threshold needed to prevent Republicans from blocking their bills, Ms. Sinema – together with Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia – has come under particular fire for her refusal to scrap the filibuster.
—Stephanie Hanes, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Aug. 2021
This item, which has more in common with a tabletop decoration than a functioning reticule, would be hard put to accommodate a hairbrush; a cellphone would dwarf it.
—Lynn Yaeger, Town & Country, 22 Jan. 2023
Japan itself, with a stagnant economy and the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, will be hard put to sustain the necessary military buildup.
—Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, 28 Nov. 2022
But this is a tale of two women, and you’d be hard put to nominate one of them as the obvious heroine, or to say who is sweating under the greater stress.
—The New Yorker, 25 Feb. 2022
One is hard put, though, to find anyone singling out Lincoln as a racist fiend either before his murder or for decades thereafter.
—Sean Wilentz, The New York Review of Books, 13 Apr. 2021
Without trade and movement between Iran and Iraq, however, Tehran will be hard put to get some of its non-oil industries fully functional again.
—Falih Hassan, New York Times, 21 Apr. 2020
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.
Sara Georgini, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Aug. 2024
From Brazil to Germany, companies are hard put to crew up, such is the demand by series and movies.
—John Hopewell, Variety, 10 May 2023
But with an evenly split Senate, and Democrats hard put to get to the 60-vote threshold needed to prevent Republicans from blocking their bills, Ms. Sinema – together with Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia – has come under particular fire for her refusal to scrap the filibuster.
—Stephanie Hanes, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Aug. 2021
This item, which has more in common with a tabletop decoration than a functioning reticule, would be hard put to accommodate a hairbrush; a cellphone would dwarf it.
—Lynn Yaeger, Town & Country, 22 Jan. 2023
Japan itself, with a stagnant economy and the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, will be hard put to sustain the necessary military buildup.
—Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, 28 Nov. 2022
But this is a tale of two women, and you’d be hard put to nominate one of them as the obvious heroine, or to say who is sweating under the greater stress.
—The New Yorker, 25 Feb. 2022
One is hard put, though, to find anyone singling out Lincoln as a racist fiend either before his murder or for decades thereafter.
—Sean Wilentz, The New York Review of Books, 13 Apr. 2021
Without trade and movement between Iran and Iraq, however, Tehran will be hard put to get some of its non-oil industries fully functional again.
—Falih Hassan, New York Times, 21 Apr. 2020
Dictionary Entries Near hard put
Cite this Entry
“Hard put.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hard%20put. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share