Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

hard-won

UK/hɑːd ˈwʌn/US/hɑɹd ˈwʌn/
adjectiveC1neutral

Hard-won means gained only after great effort. A hard-won reputation.

It suggests the thing is valued more for what it cost, which is usually true. A hard-won right is defended more fiercely than one that was simply granted.

Definitions of hard-won

  1. 1adjectivehard-wonGained only after great effort.C1

    “The hard-won agreement lasted eleven days.”

hard-won is a quality.

Where it comes from

Hard plus won, in the sense of obtained with difficulty.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *kret-

  2. English, today

    hard-won

Built from

  • hard · English — with difficulty; with much effort
  • won · English — obtained

From hard (“with difficulty; with much effort”) + won (“obtained”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word