as in desolate
producing inferior or only a small amount of vegetation
it was hard to eke out even a bare existence on the hardscrabble lands
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of hardscrabble
Vance discussed more than once being raised by his grandmother in hardscrabble poverty.
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Susan Page, USA TODAY, 2 Oct. 2024
Milo is a savvy, hardscrabble Ethiopian Irish computer-science grad student loyal to a crew of rough friends.
—Randy Boyagoda, The Atlantic, 16 Aug. 2024
The race covers the 58th district, which is historically Democratic and includes the hardscrabble Thompsonville section of working-class citizens east of the Connecticut River and west of Interstate 91.
—Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 12 Aug. 2024
Rose, a product of the city’s hardscrabble west side, was a man of average physical gifts who propelled himself to unparalleled athletic heights and a mythic status hard to imagine for a baseball player today.
—Brandon Harris, The New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hardscrabble 
Susan Page, USA TODAY, 2 Oct. 2024
Milo is a savvy, hardscrabble Ethiopian Irish computer-science grad student loyal to a crew of rough friends.
—Randy Boyagoda, The Atlantic, 16 Aug. 2024
The race covers the 58th district, which is historically Democratic and includes the hardscrabble Thompsonville section of working-class citizens east of the Connecticut River and west of Interstate 91.
—Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 12 Aug. 2024
Rose, a product of the city’s hardscrabble west side, was a man of average physical gifts who propelled himself to unparalleled athletic heights and a mythic status hard to imagine for a baseball player today.
—Brandon Harris, The New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hardscrabble
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hardscrabble
Adjective
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The rolling hills of Laikipia, located on the equator, give way to the vast, desolate sand dunes of the Suguta Valley below, before lakes flooded with flamingos come into view.Shaun Stanley, Travel + Leisure, 5 Nov. 2024
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Pedro Páramo, which is considered one of the two frontrunners to represent Mexico at the Academy Awards, transports its audience to Comala, where a desolate Mexican town hauntingly blurs the lines between life and death.Travis Bean, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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Unfortunately, in recent years, Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) has embraced and promoted an impoverished worldview regarding gender and sexuality.Enquirer staff, The Enquirer, 29 Oct. 2024
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On an international level, too..., one country’s climate response can easily leave another country impoverished, either through neglect, foolishness or outright malevolence.Saima S. Iqbal, Scientific American, 24 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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The result is a barren playa, wide swaths of sand and earth.Shaun McKinnon, The Arizona Republic, 28 Oct. 2024
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In his latest novel, Annihilation, his protagonists wander through that barren world, disoriented, looking vainly for an exit.Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 24 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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Some recipients responded to the texts with anger and others with a sense of humor, but many agree that the messages seem to be a bleak foreshadowing.Char Adams, NBC News, 7 Nov. 2024
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The stock's fate hinges on the 2024 presidential election results, with potential appreciation if Trump wins, but a bleak outlook if Kamala Harris prevails.Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Exposure to high concentrations can cause people to lose consciousness and can lead to long-term effects such as headaches, poor attention span, poor memory and poor motor function, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.Noelle Phillips, The Denver Post, 15 Nov. 2024
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More than 40% of pregnant people were exposed to extreme heat, and nearly three-quarters lived in areas with poor air quality, the report found.Erika Edwards, NBC News, 14 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near hardscrabble
Cite this Entry
“Hardscrabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hardscrabble. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.
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