hard-knock

American  

[hahrd-nok] / ˈhɑrdˈnɒk /

adjective

1. full of, familiar with, or arising from the experience of hardship and struggle.

   Life in this hard-knock town can be brutal.

   If I learned one thing from my hard-knock mother, it was that the show must always go on.

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Example Sentences

It’s a morality tale about the hard-knock life of a performer that recalls the warm character studies of Ms. Swift’s earlier work.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 6, 2025

But when I really close-read Annie’s hard-knock life, I couldn’t help but zero in on how bizarre it is—and how bizarre it is that we still love her so much.

From Slate • Aug. 17, 2024

When Tato’s mother dies, he’s left to fend for himself in the city’s hard-knock streets.

From New York Times • Jul. 29, 2022

But what became increasingly obvious with each crunchy step of survey work, is that a live tortoise lingering in this landscape is in for a hard-knock life.

From Washington Times • Sep. 6, 2020

I wasn’t sure what he was talking about when I was younger, but now I get it—I don’t think my life is too hard-knock after all.

From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Related Words

• adversity
• grief
• heartache
• misery
• misfortune
• woe