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hard yards

British

plural noun

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.

"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

But he added: "While AI promises to dramatically improve drug discovery and development, we still need to do the hard yards when it comes to testing safety and efficacy."

From BBC • Aug. 14, 2025

He was cute in the link-up play but when his team really needed him, he did the hard yards defensively.

From BBC • Jan. 1, 2025

In England's run of 10 wins from 11 Tests there were the rampant run-fests of Trent Bridge, Edgbaston and Rawalpindi, but just as many times when they had to do the hard yards.

From BBC • Jun. 30, 2023

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023