hard knocks

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.

Most of us learn this by about third grade, when parents and hard knocks teach us how to figure out whom you can trust, and who will eat you for lunch.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 1, 2025

"Everyone loved her. I grew up with Tina Turner and she was a great woman to me, with a lot of sorrow too due to life's hard knocks but absolutely someone we could admire."

From Reuters • May 25, 2023

Australian rugby league in the early 1990s was an unforgiving school of hard knocks, tough men and scant sympathy.

From BBC • Feb. 2, 2023

Sam is a straightforward girl who suffers hard knocks and learns to climb rocks as she undergoes the traumas and revelations of growing up from age 7 to 19.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 16, 2023

Shasta cried only a very little; he was used to hard knocks.

From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis