Hardscrabble

//ˈhɑɹdˌskɹæbəl// adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Requiring much work to farm, and ultimately not very productive. Canada, US, not-comparable

    "his hardscrabble peanut farm"

  2. 2
    Involving hard work and struggle. Canada, US, broadly, not-comparable

    "He leads a hardscrabble existence."

Adjective
  1. 1
    barely satisfying a lower standard wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
meager

Example

More examples

"On his recent visit with his grandparents in Boston, Tom listened with growing empathy as they related tales of their hardscrabble childhoods and their coming of age during the Great Depression. His grandfather also spoke of enlisting in the army during World War II."

Etymology

From hard + scrabble.

More for "hardscrabble"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.