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 • Sep. 15, 2022
I’m hard-put to advise today’s graduates on how to succeed in the workplace.
From Washington Post • May 26, 2022
You will be hard-put to find the Mart mentioned in the literature about what Thomas Mann dubbed “German California.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2022
If that didn’t happen, I’m hard-put to explain exactly how this scene came together.
From The Verge • Aug. 28, 2017
With the suppression of the socialist publishing houses, his meagre royalties ceased, and he was hard-put to make a living; for he had to make a living in addition to all his other labor.
From The Iron Heel by London, Jack
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.
