hard-knock

[ hahrd-nok ]

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.

Example Sentences

She has credited San Francisco’s “hard-knock politics” as shaping her ambitions and propelling her all the way to the White House as vice president, and now potentially president.

From Los Angeles Times

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

I suppose that’s why we continue to blithely share that tune with kids—Annie Jr. remains a popular production in children’s theaters, and though it’s abridged, the junior version features not just “It’s the Hard-Knock Life” but its reprise.

From Slate

An unreliable but exploitable rumor about PJ and Josie’s hard-knock life in juvie leads our heroines to their Big Idea: starting a self-defense club for females, with noble intentions up front but a yen to get close to the gorgeous, popular girls as a bonus.

From Seattle Times

The singer stood in a rubble-strewn courtyard in one of the hard-knock neighborhoods of Luanda, Angola’s capital, antsy as he got the performers in line for their final rehearsal before the big competition.

From New York Times

Related Words

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