hard-pressed

American  

[hahrd-prest] / ˈhɑrdˈprɛst /

Or hardpressed

adjective

1. heavily burdened or oppressed, as by overwork or financial difficulties; harried; put-upon.

   Synonyms:

   beleaguered

---

hard-pressed British  

adjective

1. in difficulties

   the swimmer was hard-pressed

2. subject to severe competition

3. subject to severe attack

4. closely pursued

---

hard pressed Idioms  

1. Overburdened, put upon, as in With all these bills to pay we find ourselves hard pressed. [c. 1800]

---

Etymology

Origin of hard-pressed

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

Few expect the good times to keep rolling indefinitely, but you would be hard-pressed to find a major bank predicting anything except more gains in 2026.

From The Wall Street Journal

"Pat coached, befriended and mentored countless students throughout the years and you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone anywhere who has an unkind word to say about him," his family wrote.

From BBC

But Mamdani would be hard-pressed to remove Adams’s appointees next year.

From The Wall Street Journal

But Warner and its chief executive, David Zaslav, might be hard-pressed to keep turning away David Ellison, CEO of Paramount.

From The Wall Street Journal

Sometimes Autumn knows how I feel before I even tell her, which means I’d be hard-pressed to get anything past her.

From Literature