How to Use hardscrabble in a Sentence

hardscrabble

adjective
  • He lived a hardscrabble life.
  • Hoyos has come a long way from a hardscrabble childhood.
    — Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2026
  • And she’s been working to get Vans back to its own hardscrabble roots.
    — Evan Clark, WWD, 6 Mar. 2025
  • The self-reliance built from growing up in such a hardscrabble way stayed with her too.
    — Chloe Schama, Vogue, 4 May 2021
  • But this eight-year, hardscrabble journey is no get-rich-quick story.
    — Star Tribune, 6 Dec. 2020
  • Not all of the recipients live and work on hardscrabble farms.
    — Evan Halper, latimes.com, 6 June 2018
  • The clerkship was one more rung up from a hardscrabble beginning.
    — Jacques Billeaud, The Arizona Republic, 26 Sep. 2022
  • The clerkship was one more rung up from a hardscrabble beginning.
    — CBS News, 27 Sep. 2022
  • Olympic stars who often hail from hardscrabble backgrounds and were trained up from a young age in state sports academies.
    — Washington Post, 15 Feb. 2022
  • Most bulldog gravy makers use milk, but there are hardscrabble versions made with water.
    — Sheri Castle, Southern Living, 6 Aug. 2025
  • Her speeches have returned her to the hardscrabble neighborhoods of her youth.
    — Richard Wolf, USA TODAY, 8 Aug. 2019
  • One of my tasks was to dig into her past — from her hardscrabble childhood to her recent business dealings.
    — Nick Tabor, Curbed, 11 Apr. 2025
  • The toughest natives are from Sfakia, a hardscrabble mass of peaks cracked by deep gorges that lead to electric-blue bays.
    — Rachel Howard, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Aug. 2021
  • The hardscrabble landscape suits its subjects.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 9 Dec. 2025
  • Those who know Murray’s hardscrabble story believe he was built for a moment such as this.
    — Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 21 Feb. 2018
  • To someone from a hardscrabble life, Hartford seemed so posh and civilized to him.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 18 May 2025
  • John had been raised by a single mother in Kaduna, a hardscrabble city in Nigeria’s arid north.
    — Sean Williams, Harper's magazine, 19 Aug. 2019
  • Bill Clinton, the son of a single mother, came from a hardscrabble childhood.
    — Jeet Heer, The New Republic, 23 Apr. 2018
  • Jennifer Tilly, a poker champ and scream queen, talks about her hardscrabble past and fortunate present.
    — Guy Trebay, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2025
  • That acclaim, plus a work ethic born of a hardscrabble childhood, earned him rides in Triple Crown races.
    — Mike Klingaman, baltimoresun.com, 10 May 2018
  • Yu comes from a hardscrabble stretch of the North China plain, the region once known as Manchuria.
    — Emily Rauhala, Washington Post, 23 July 2017
  • Selvaggi had grown up a hardscrabble Italian section of the Bronx, home to many of the wise guys.
    — Andrew Meier, Time, 14 Oct. 2022
  • Johns follows the genesis of the piece and the hardscrabble careers of Richter and Mahr.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 24 Mar. 2021
  • With a hardscrabble happy ending.
    — Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 19 Mar. 2026
  • Waukegan is counting on the project to boost its downtown economy, but this hardscrabble city will have to wait at least a couple more years for a grand opening.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 25 Feb. 2025
  • The new Tangled Shore patrol zone, where the campaign takes place, has a hardscrabble pirate vibe to it that's very cool.
    — Aaron Zimmerman, Ars Technica, 19 Sep. 2018
  • Born in the hardscrabble northeast, da Silva rose through the ranks of the union in the country's industrial south.
    — Mauricio Savarese and Peter Prengaman, chicagotribune.com, 7 Apr. 2018
  • The swimming lessons aimed to give the new arrivals the skills to scrape by in the hardscrabble city of Messina, which is largely dependent on the sea.
    — Washington Post Staff, Washington Post, 20 Dec. 2017
  • Shtewi grew up in Zeitoun, a hardscrabble neighborhood on the southern outskirts of Gaza City.
    — Fox News, 16 May 2018
  • These songs were less detailed than the ballads but conveyed intense emotion gleaned from an often hardscrabble existence.
    — Ted Olson, The Conversation, 2 July 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hardscrabble.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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