school of hard knocks
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.59 in modern English
40
Scrabble Score
18
Letters
2
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The source of an education consisting of real-world experiences, especially adverse experiences.
American usage; Countable
Example Sentences
- "Trained, however, in the school of hard knocks, he now had learned the theory of success, and from that time on has had it."
- "Did Vietnam's school of hard knocks teach Americans to do peacemaking and state building right?"