hard yards

British  

plural noun

1. a great deal of effort or hard work, esp in playing a sport

   Dallaglio's ability to make the hard yards and cross the gain line

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hard yards

But it was the bowlers who put in the hard yards on the final day.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

Richardson is an old-school coach who brings volume to create good habits - basically, hitting plenty of balls and putting in the hard yards.

From BBC ● May 22, 2026

"We talk a lot about doing the hard yards and sometimes at this level you can beat teams through persistence and put the effort in that maybe other teams won't."

From Barron's ● Jan. 17, 2026

“As we get more and more of the hard yards behind us, my excitement about what’s possible for Citi grows exponentially,” Fraser said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2025

But he added: "While AI promises to dramatically improve drug discovery and development, we still need to do the hard yards when it comes to testing safety and efficacy."

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2025