hard knock

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.

The singer stood in a rubble-strewn courtyard in one of the hard-knock neighborhoods of Luanda, Angola’s capital, antsy as he got the performers in line for their final rehearsal before the big competition.

From New York Times

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Holocaust is never mentioned, but Grobglas' character does speak to antisemitic treatment abroad and rough living conditions in New York; the kind of hard-knock life that paves the path for makeshift community centers, like Jewish delis, to provide comfort for those who've lost quite a bit.

From Salon

When Tato’s mother dies, he’s left to fend for himself in the city’s hard-knock streets.

From New York Times

Better known as Bazzi B, his artistic alias, Mr. Tasama has risen to prominence by rapping about the hard-knock shikun life.

From New York Times

Unlike other memoirists looking back through a scrim of nostalgia, Wang doesn’t romanticize her parents’ hard-knock decisions — Marilyn’s fate is among them — or the family’s difficult, sometimes desperate circumstances.

From New York Times