Meaning & use
hard cheese
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Meanings
phrasefixed phraseBritishinformal
Used to express sympathy or to say that something is unfortunate, often in a slightly dismissive way.
Grammar: Used as an exclamation or a comment, often on its own or with 'that's'.
Patterns
- hard cheese!
- that's hard cheese
You didn't get the job? Hard cheese, mate.
That's hard cheese, but you'll find something else.
noununcountable
Cheese that is firm and can be cut into slices, such as cheddar or parmesan.
Grammar: Uncountable; refers to a category of cheese, not a single piece.
Patterns
- a piece of hard cheese
- hard cheese like cheddar
I prefer hard cheese to soft cheese on my sandwich.
Parmesan is a hard cheese often used in Italian cooking.
Common combinations
- hard cheese!
- You lost your ticket? Hard cheese!
- that's hard cheese
- That's hard cheese, but there's nothing we can do.
- a bit of hard cheese
- He gave me a bit of hard cheese to try.
- hard cheese like cheddar
- Hard cheese like cheddar is great for grating.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tough luck
- Tough luck is a more common and slightly less dismissive way to say 'hard cheese' in both British and American English.
- bad luck
- Bad luck is a neutral expression of sympathy; 'hard cheese' is more informal and can sound flippant.
Word family
Commonly confused: hard cheese or hard cheese (literal)?
hard cheese vs hard cheese (literal)
Don't confuse the idiom 'hard cheese' with the literal meaning of firm cheese; context makes the difference clear.
Practice
You failed your driving test again? ______, but you can try again next month.
Choose one answer.
'Hard cheese' is a fixed informal British expression meaning 'bad luck'. The other options are not grammatical or do not fit the fixed phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hard cheese”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.