hard-bitten

[ hahrd-bit-n ]

adjective

1. tough; stubborn.
2. conditioned by battle or struggle:

   a hard-bitten army.

3. grim or severe in judgment or attitude:

   a hard-bitten old teacher.

4. hard-boiled ( defs 2, 3 ).

hard-bitten

adjective

1. tough and realistic

Word History and Origins

Origin of hard-bitten¹

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

His gift for salty language impressed even the most hard-bitten grunts.

From The Daily Beast

Hard-bitten conservatives might be relieved, then, to find their misgivings about the president reflected by the left as well.

From The Daily Beast

Even the most hard-bitten Chicagoans have to see very good times on the horizon.

From The Daily Beast

But even the most hard-bitten Chicagoans have to see very good times on the horizon.

From The Daily Beast

Along the rail, hard-bitten as the clippers men were, oaths broke out, and mutterings.

From Project Gutenberg

The police sergeant was a hard bitten looking customer, typical of his line in life.

From Project Gutenberg

I remember the long red wall of Hampton Court as the one warm feature of the hard-bitten landscape.

From Project Gutenberg

Into most eyes he looked down, for when he stood in his socks he was six feet two inches of hard-bitten sinew and man-flesh.

From Project Gutenberg

He had been the hard-bitten captain of a hard-bitten company, fighting Moros in the jungles of Mindanao.

From Project Gutenberg