hardscrabble
adjective
hard·scrab·ble
ˈhärd-ˌskra-bəl 
1
a
: being or relating to a place of barren or barely arable soil
a hardscrabble farm
hardscrabble prairies
b
: getting a meager living from poor soil
a hardscrabble farmer
2
: marked by poverty
a hardscrabble cotton town
a hardscrabble childhood
Synonyms
Examples of hardscrabble in a Sentence
He lived a hardscrabble life.
it was hard to eke out even a bare existence on the hardscrabble lands
Recent Examples on the Web
The combination of James Cagney (Rocky Sullivan), Humphrey Bogart (James Frazier) and director Michael Curtiz makes this Depression-era crime drama one that reinforces the idea that America was made in the streets of immigrant, segregated, hardscrabble neighborhoods.
—
Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Dec. 2024
This hardscrabble bunch of journalists and technicians is right at the coalface of the struggle against censorship.
—Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 2 Dec. 2024
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
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Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Dec. 2024
This hardscrabble bunch of journalists and technicians is right at the coalface of the struggle against censorship.
—Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 2 Dec. 2024
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
See all Example Sentences for hardscrabble
Dictionary Entries Near hardscrabble
Cite this Entry
“Hardscrabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hardscrabble. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.
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