hard cheese

American  

noun

Slang.

1. an unpleasant, difficult, or adverse situation.

   It's hard cheese for the unskilled worker these days.

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hard cheese British  

1. slang bad luck

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Etymology

Origin of hard cheese

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

Exports of the flavourful hard cheese produced around Parma in northern Italy rose by 2.7 percent to nearly 75,000 tonnes last year, the industry's trade association said.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

Google has posted it on YouTube - which it owns - and it no longer contains any reference to what percentage of the world consumes the hard cheese.

From BBC • Feb. 6, 2025

With dense hard foods like hard cheese or carrots, where you can clearly see the mold colony, he says it’s safe to cut away the moldy part plus an extra inch or so.

From National Geographic • Nov. 10, 2023

Select a hard cheese in the Cheddar category: something semisoft but not too funky or runny, like a Camembert style; and a fresher example, like a log of goat cheese.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 1, 2022

Guards bring prepackaged sandwiches, hard cheese, sufficient water.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

Related Words

• adversity
• hard time
• hardship
• misfortune
• setback
• tragedy