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
Milo is a savvy, hardscrabble Ethiopian Irish computer-science grad student loyal to a crew of rough friends.
—
Randy Boyagoda, The Atlantic, 16 Aug. 2024
The race covers the 58th district, which is historically Democratic and includes the hardscrabble Thompsonville section of working-class citizens east of the Connecticut River and west of Interstate 91.
—Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 12 Aug. 2024
Rose, a product of the city’s hardscrabble west side, was a man of average physical gifts who propelled himself to unparalleled athletic heights and a mythic status hard to imagine for a baseball player today.
—Brandon Harris, The New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2024
What makes the claim believable is its specificity — page numbers and all — and the fact Vance’s memoir was lauded as a heartfelt, unvarnished coming-of-age tell-all about his hardscrabble Appalachian childhood.
—Allen Salkin, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for hardscrabble 
Randy Boyagoda, The Atlantic, 16 Aug. 2024
The race covers the 58th district, which is historically Democratic and includes the hardscrabble Thompsonville section of working-class citizens east of the Connecticut River and west of Interstate 91.
—Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 12 Aug. 2024
Rose, a product of the city’s hardscrabble west side, was a man of average physical gifts who propelled himself to unparalleled athletic heights and a mythic status hard to imagine for a baseball player today.
—Brandon Harris, The New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2024
What makes the claim believable is its specificity — page numbers and all — and the fact Vance’s memoir was lauded as a heartfelt, unvarnished coming-of-age tell-all about his hardscrabble Appalachian childhood.
—Allen Salkin, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for hardscrabble
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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Cite this Entry
“Hardscrabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hardscrabble. Accessed 20 Sep. 2024.
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