Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hardscrabble

/ˈhɑɹdˌskɹæbəl/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.03 in modern English

Syllables: hard-scrab-ble
IPA: /ˈhɑɹdˌskɹæbəl/

22

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Requiring much work to farm, and ultimately not very productive.

Canadian usage; American usage

adj

Involving hard work and struggle.

Canadian usage; American usage

Example Sentences

"his hardscrabble peanut farm"
"In the case of Allegheny Briskow, poverty, the drought, the grinding hardships of these hard-scrabble Texas counties, had dwarfed the intellect, the very soul of a splendid young animal."
"Villages in the more remote and hard-scrabble regions, including some mountain areas, are being abandoned, and nature is starting to creep back."
"He leads a hardscrabble existence."
"Being the savage’s bowsman, that is, the person who pulled the bow-oar in his boat (the second one from forward), it was my cheerful duty to attend upon him while taking that hard-scrabble scramble upon the dead whale’s back."
"While Rose tried to keep up with Westbrook, the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony struggled mightily, going 4 of 19 for 18 hardscrabble points."

Etymology

From hard + scrabble.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈhɑɹdˌskɹæbəl/

Usage

Canadian usage
American usage

Inflected Forms

hard-scrabble (alternative)

Rhymes With

scrabble rabble babel babble dabble drabble technobabble gabble crabble

Questions

How do you pronounce hardscrabble?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈhɑɹdˌskɹæbəl/.
What does hardscrabble mean?: Requiring much work to farm, and ultimately not very productive.
Where does hardscrabble come from?: From hard + scrabble.

How to pronounce hardscrabble

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “hardscrabble”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈhɑɹdˌskɹæbəl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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