Meaning & use
Hard-knock
Last updated
Marked by harsh experience, hardship, or difficult struggle.
See it in a sentence
He learned everything he knew about survival from a hard-knock childhood on the streets.
She credits her hard-knock upbringing for teaching her resilience.
A note on using this word
Popularized by the phrase 'the school of hard knocks,' meaning learning through difficult life experience rather than formal education.
Words with a similar meaning
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
easysheltered
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