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.

It’s a morality tale about the hard-knock life of a performer that recalls the warm character studies of Ms. Swift’s earlier work.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 6, 2025

But when I really close-read Annie’s hard-knock life, I couldn’t help but zero in on how bizarre it is—and how bizarre it is that we still love her so much.

From Slate • Aug. 17, 2024

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

From New York Times • Jul. 29, 2022

But what became increasingly obvious with each crunchy step of survey work, is that a live tortoise lingering in this landscape is in for a hard-knock life.

From Washington Times • Sep. 6, 2020

I wasn’t sure what he was talking about when I was younger, but now I get it—I don’t think my life is too hard-knock after all.

From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt