hard-knock

[hahrd-nok]

adjective

1. full of, familiar with, or arising from the experience of hardship and struggle.

   Life in this hard-knock town can be brutal.

   If I learned one thing from my hard-knock mother, it was that the show must always go on.

Related Words

• adversity 
• grief 
• heartache 
• misery 
• misfortune 
• woe