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Synonyms

hard time

American  

noun

  1. a period of difficulties or hardship.

  2. Slang. time actually served in a prison or other penal institution.

    He had merely been fined before, but now was sentenced to 90 days' hard time in the county jail.

  3. Informal. give a hard time, to bother, annoy, or harass.

    He gave me a hard time about the money I owe him.
hard time Idioms  

  1. Also, hard times . A period of difficulty or hardship, especially financial hardship. For example, Since Mom died, Christmas has been a hard time for Dad , or It's been hard times for both of them since they split up . It is also put as have a hard time , as in I'm having a hard time finishing this book . Charles Dickens used Hard Times as the title of a novel about poverty (1854). A more recent version is have a time of it , which despite its ambiguity (not specifying either “good” or “bad”) nearly always means “experiencing difficulty”; for example, We had quite a time of it in that hurricane . [Late 1300s]

  2. give someone a hard time . Annoy or harass someone. For example, Don't let him give you a hard time; he's often late himself . [ Colloquial ; early 1900s]

Etymology

Origin of hard time

First recorded in 1905–10

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.

You may have a hard time believing that the gold-platinum ratio is falling because geopolitical risk is receding.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 17, 2026

Now, with social media, I would have a hard time letting one of my children do it.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026

Warsh is going to have a hard time.

From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026

If a person has a hard time cancelling a subscription, they form a negative association with the process, not a positive mentality about the prospect of saving money.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

Baba says Americans have a hard time understanding foreign concepts, which always makes me want to shout, I’m not a foreign concept!

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

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.