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hard yards

British  

plural noun

  1. a great deal of effort or hard work, esp in playing a sport

    Dallaglio's ability to make the hard yards and cross the gain line

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

See Examples For:

The new Open champion was 24 when he turned professional and has become a major winner only after going through the hard yards of an unforgiving pro game.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

"Now we can start hard yards and finding a way forward on security in the Arctic," said the prime minister.

From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2026

"We talk a lot about doing the hard yards and sometimes at this level you can beat teams through persistence and put the effort in that maybe other teams won't."

From Barron's ● Jan. 17, 2026

“As we get more and more of the hard yards behind us, my excitement about what’s possible for Citi grows exponentially,” Fraser said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2025

And yet against the Waratahs they were still shovelling the ball out the backline without doing the hard yards up front.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2025

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