blood, sweat and tears

Meaning

1. 1phrasefixed phrase

   extremely hard work and great suffering that someone puts into achieving something

   Grammar: Used as an uncountable idea; it can follow 'a lot of' or 'no' but is not used with 'a' or a plural.

   Patterns

   • a lot of blood, sweat and tears
   • put blood, sweat and tears into something
   • no blood, sweat and tears

   Building this school took a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but it was worth it.

   She put blood, sweat and tears into her business before it finally became successful.

   The team's victory was the result of years of blood, sweat and tears.

Common combinations

a lot of blood, sweat and tears

There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears behind this project.

put blood, sweat and tears into something

He put blood, sweat and tears into learning the piano.

years of blood, sweat and tears

After years of blood, sweat and tears, the book was finally published.

worth the blood, sweat and tears

The final result was worth all the blood, sweat and tears.

Synonyms and how they differ

hard work

This is a plain, neutral way to describe effort; 'blood, sweat and tears' is much stronger and suggests real suffering.

struggle

This focuses on the difficulty of the process, while 'blood, sweat and tears' emphasizes both effort and emotional pain.

Commonly confused: blood, sweat and tears or blood and thunder?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “blood, sweat and tears”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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