hard-knock life
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of hard-knock life
First recorded in 1975–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s a morality tale about the hard-knock life of a performer that recalls the warm character studies of Ms. Swift’s earlier work.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 6, 2025
But what became increasingly obvious with each crunchy step of survey work, is that a live tortoise lingering in this landscape is in for a hard-knock life.
From Washington Times • Sep. 6, 2020
When he wasn’t in jail, he was busy reinventing his own hard-knock life into a more fabulous one.
From New York Times • Jan. 10, 2020
Rocky was a way of converting his hard-knock life into cinema – and money.
From The Guardian • Feb. 24, 2016
His history as a child star gives ammo to those who view him as a prefab celebutant, a hard-knock life in the warm embrace of The Industry.
From Slate • Sep. 23, 2013
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
