hard-put
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of hard-put
First recorded in 1890–95
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.
If it’s possible to work around a no-beard policy when the stakes are life and death, I’m hard-put to imagine a job where accommodation isn’t possible.
From Washington Post
I’m hard-put to advise today’s graduates on how to succeed in the workplace.
From Washington Post
You will be hard-put to find the Mart mentioned in the literature about what Thomas Mann dubbed “German California.”
From Los Angeles Times
Now the Russians will be hard-put to encircle the Ukrainian forces in the east, which have been fighting Russian-backed separatists since 2014.
From Washington Post
In media interviews, Israeli officials were quizzed over whether Trump had “betrayed” the Kurds - a term they seemed hard-put to deny.
From Reuters
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.
