How to Use hard knocks in a Sentence

hard knocks

plural noun
Definition of hard knocksnext
  • As the saying goes, the school of hard knocks is the best way to learn.
    — Serenity Gibbons, Forbes, 24 Jan. 2023
  • Shaver was a survivor, though, in spite of the hard knocks and his hell-raising ways.
    — Mary Colurso | McOlurso@al.com, al, 28 Oct. 2020
  • As a child, the school Collier most remembers is the one of hard knocks.
    — Pam Kragen, sandiegouniontribune.com, 18 May 2018
  • There’s just one problem with the story: Her school of hard knocks was 1970s Rhodesia.
    — John Patrick Leary, The New Republic, 24 Sep. 2021
  • In this new book, Greg Heffley is finding out that the road to fame and glory comes with some hard knocks.
    — Kirby Adams, The Courier-Journal, 20 Oct. 2022
  • Time and the school of hard knocks have taught me: Your success depends on your people's success.
    — John Rex, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2021
  • In Atlanta on Tuesday, Murray might as well have been studying at the school of hard knocks.
    — Jeff McDonald, ExpressNews.com, 6 Nov. 2019
  • Every Indian founder goes through more than a fair share of hard knocks.
    — Prasanna Krishnamoorthy, Quartz India, 2 Aug. 2019
  • The thrill of playing alongside girls and women just like them, who reveled in the sweat and hard knocks of an all-out training session, was enough.
    — Liz Clarke, courant.com, 3 June 2019
  • Olson didn't mind taking a few hard knocks himself, either, if that sent the message through.
    — Bruce Pascoe, azcentral, 12 Apr. 2018
  • For the struggling restaurant industry, the hard knocks keep coming.
    — Marcy De Luna, Houston Chronicle, 24 June 2020
  • Although my hard knocks were real and there wasn’t a Daddy Warbucks in my future.
    — Liz Elting, Forbes, 29 Oct. 2021
  • Bosa often sounded excited to be enrolled in Williams’ school of hard knocks.
    — Eric Branch, SFChronicle.com, 20 Aug. 2020
  • And Kelly isn’t trying to escape Saban’s coaching school of hard knocks.
    — Andrew Astleford, ajc, 20 Sep. 2017
  • The Detroit Lions have endured their share of hard knocks over the years, and now the franchise will be featured on the reality series by the same name.
    — Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press, 28 Mar. 2022
  • Again, though, the best college football stories pancake hardship and hard knocks.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Sep. 2021
  • For a leader familiar with the hard knocks of politics, Whitman has been unafraid to flip-flop.
    — Jen Wieczner, Fortune, 22 Sep. 2017
  • Continuing the story, Stallworth gets to the moment when the intruder’s actions were paused by hard knocks on the door.
    — Scott Talley, Freep.com, 17 Sep. 2021
  • Batoning will turn a dry, seasoned 4-inch-thick piece of kindling into flame-catching pieces with a few hard knocks.
    — The Editors, Field & Stream, 5 June 2020
  • Neither, for that matter, were the hard knocks and life experience that inform the best country music.
    — Tom Roland, Billboard, 16 Mar. 2018
  • That might have all been surmountable — the team is used to hard knocks, a fickle crowd and endless friendly jabs from the competition — had the noise stayed outside the locker room.
    — Jamie Tarabay, New York Times, 17 Sep. 2019
  • Whether the pitchers are going through the customary developmental hard knocks or if these starters will become busts will not be known for a few years.
    — New York Times, 15 July 2022
  • Your poker education is usually going to be a school of hard knocks.
    — Chuck Blount, San Antonio Express-News, 12 Feb. 2018
  • Jean Rhys’s first four novels are peopled with, and powered by, sharply depicted women dealing with their unfair share of hard knocks in a hostile world.
    — Malcolm Forbes, WSJ, 17 June 2022
  • Their characters connect in a way that makes sense for two people who’ve seen most of life and know the precise nature and contours of its hard knocks, yet retain just enough idealism to fall in love.
    — Alissa Wilkinson, Vox, 28 Sep. 2018
  • The drama’s mid-section reveals the hard knocks and combustion, both mechanical and human, that went into the development of a car that could beat the Italians, and how it got done in one year.
    — Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Aug. 2019
  • Each sports a 1/0 premium heavy wire Mustad hook and a UV clearcoat finish impervious to the hard knocks inherent with crappie habitat.
    — Colin Moore, Field & Stream, 19 Nov. 2020
  • Fishing tackle is naturally subject to rough handling, both on the water and off it, and spincasters can stand up to more than a few hard knocks without incurring functional damage.
    — The Editors, Field & Stream, 1 June 2020
  • Seated behind a clear plastic partition, the two older women share confidences that expose some hard knocks of experience.
    — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 2 June 2022
  • Taking hard knocks early in life could shove football players toward neurological problems later, a new study suggests.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 19 Sep. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hard knocks.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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