Jump To:

• hard-pressed
  hard-pressed

  adjective

  heavily burdened or oppressed, as by overwork or financial difficulties; harried; put-upon.
• hard pressed
  hard pressed

  Overburdened, put upon, as in With all these bills to pay we find ourselves hard pressed. [c. 1800]

hard-pressed

American  

[hahrd-prest] / ˈhɑrdˈprɛst /

Or hardpressed

adjective

1. heavily burdened or oppressed, as by overwork or financial difficulties; harried; put-upon.

   Synonyms:

   beleaguered

---

hard-pressed British  

adjective

1. in difficulties

   the swimmer was hard-pressed

2. subject to severe competition

3. subject to severe attack

4. closely pursued

---

hard pressed Idioms  

1. Overburdened, put upon, as in With all these bills to pay we find ourselves hard pressed. [c. 1800]

---

Etymology

Origin of hard-pressed

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

That’s especially useful during a global event like the World Cup—when even the most devoted soccer fan is hard-pressed to keep track of every group-stage result, knockout permutation, and concurring match windows.

From Slate • Jun. 10, 2026

But it also found hard-pressed councils trying to do the right thing in difficult circumstances - often as a result of issues such as budget cuts and specialist skill shortages.

From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026

“You’d be hard-pressed to find many filmmakers that have had the run of quality that he has,” says Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of Sony Pictures Classics, Almodóvar’s long-standing North American distribution partner.

From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 2026

I’m hard-pressed to think of any movie I’d watch four times in a month if I didn’t genuinely admire it on some level.

From Salon • Apr. 5, 2026

Sometimes Autumn knows how I feel before I even tell her, which means I’d be hard-pressed to get anything past her.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer