hard-ass
Americannoun
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.
“I’d sit on that hard-ass carpet until I was asked if I wanted a seat. That’s just how obedient I was. I was eager to learn.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2023
“People with things to hide opened to him, unfailingly, until they detected a relentless hard-ass reporter at work.”
From Seattle Times • Sep. 1, 2022
Rolling Stone's Peter Travers compared the film to "Dangerous Minds" and said it "gives the inspiring teacher/at-risk youth drama a hard-ass and heartfelt French redo."
From Salon • Apr. 12, 2020
“If he were a hard-ass to the Russians, it would have been difficult for him to succeed,” he said.
From Washington Post • Nov. 8, 2019
“Being a hard-ass just doesn’t go with the system here,” said Big D. “You’re not going to change everything.”
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
![]()
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.