as in perplexed
faced with difficulty or uncertainty about what to say, think, or do
she was hard put to explain her department's excessive expenditures
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Recent Examples of hard put
Arendt, who was accused of smuggling anti-Semitic literature out of the library to expose Hitler’s intentions to the West, defends her innocence with such intellectual rigor, conviction, and charm that the audience, like the interrogator, is hard put to decipher the truth.
—
airmail.news, 28 Dec. 2024
Arendt, who was accused of smuggling anti-Semitic literature out of the library to expose Hitler’s intentions to the West, defends her innocence with such intellectual rigor, conviction, and charm that the audience, like the interrogator, is hard put to decipher the truth.
—airmail.news, 28 Dec. 2024
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
airmail.news, 28 Dec. 2024
Arendt, who was accused of smuggling anti-Semitic literature out of the library to expose Hitler’s intentions to the West, defends her innocence with such intellectual rigor, conviction, and charm that the audience, like the interrogator, is hard put to decipher the truth.
—airmail.news, 28 Dec. 2024
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hard put
Adjective
-
Veteran Harold Gould earns laughs as the often perplexed grandfather.—
Kirk Honeycutt,
HollywoodReporter,
12 July 2025
-
Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images Clarkson hinted at not liking three drivers on the grid, which left Brundle quite perplexed and didn't press the reality TV star on who those drivers were.—
Nelson Espinal,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 July 2025
Adjective
-
And finally, a baffled daughter-in-law shared that her mother-in-law took it upon herself to write directly on their back door—with a green pen.—
Cameron Schoppa
Alex Backus,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 July 2025
-
But its favorite mood, by far, is one of mild titillation, which arises whenever something slightly out of the ordinary occurs—a ball flies into the crowd, a baffled bird pecks at the service line, a champagne cork enters the field of play—and a burr of chatter rips round the court.—
Sam Knight,
New Yorker,
12 July 2025
Adjective
-
Experts urge people not to ignore or feel embarrassed about digestive symptoms.—
Sarah Garone,
Health,
30 July 2025
-
My family is embarrassed by my fashion sense, or lack thereof.—
Kimberly Zapata,
Parents,
29 July 2025
Adjective
-
This run – and the exhausted, bewildered looks on the players’ faces throughout it – has no doubt shaped Inter’s odds to win away to Barcelona, which look pretty close to long shot territory.—
Sam Tighe,
New York Times,
29 Apr. 2025
-
In the two years since Tommy Elliott was killed in a mass shooting, Maryanne’s grief has, in turns, left her aghast and overwhelmed, bewildered and incapacitated, grateful and wanting to die.—
Kristina Goetz,
USA Today,
13 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hard put.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hard%20put. Accessed 3 Aug. 2025.
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