hard-bitten
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.
The cabbie, a hard-bitten postcommunist cynic, asks her if she’s visiting the archives “for work or fun.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
He is hard-bitten by reality in these games, after all.
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2024
Taylor’s Inez, possessed of a hard-bitten skill for self-preservation, stays one step ahead, constantly moving forward, a soft shred of hope her only cold comfort.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2023
Philip Marlowe, wearily played by Liam Neeson, is the hard-bitten private detective invented by Raymond Chandler in a series of stories and novels mostly published in the 1930s and ’40s.
From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 2023
It was a strange opposition: the hard-bitten private-eye expression on the face of a girl wearing a uniform for private school.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
