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
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
Here is the emphasis on the hardscrabble beginnings and obstacles to be overcome, here is the recognition of a truly raw but once-in-a-lifetime talent that converts the nonbelivers, here are the early wins and the training montages and the tragedies and the comebacks.
—
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 6 Sep. 2025
Here, in a former metal yard turned residential drug rehabilitation center just outside of town, the 40-year-old arrived after years of addiction that began around the time opioid pain pills flooded into the hardscrabble region’s mountains and valleys.
—Chris Kenning, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025
Shuttling between past and present, Simpson traces her mother’s hardscrabble journey as the daughter of North Carolina sharecroppers who excels in school and becomes a teacher, then a mother, then a single mother of two.
—Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2025
Barrett has played the hardscrabble, fiercely devoted emergency room charge nurse since the show's first season, which premiered in 2015.
—Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 28 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hardscrabble
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David Fear, Rolling Stone, 6 Sep. 2025
Here, in a former metal yard turned residential drug rehabilitation center just outside of town, the 40-year-old arrived after years of addiction that began around the time opioid pain pills flooded into the hardscrabble region’s mountains and valleys.
—Chris Kenning, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025
Shuttling between past and present, Simpson traces her mother’s hardscrabble journey as the daughter of North Carolina sharecroppers who excels in school and becomes a teacher, then a mother, then a single mother of two.
—Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2025
Barrett has played the hardscrabble, fiercely devoted emergency room charge nurse since the show's first season, which premiered in 2015.
—Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 28 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hardscrabble
Cite this Entry
“Hardscrabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hardscrabble. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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