HARD PUT Synonyms: 19 Similar and Opposite Words

hard put

adjective

Definition of hard put

as in put to it

faced with difficulty or uncertainty about what to say, think, or do she was hard put to explain her department's excessive expenditures

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Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of hard put Given their miserable track record, the Fed’s bureaucracy will be hard put to defend their models. — Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 19 May 2026 But you’d be hard put to find two men the heavens are less likely to cow. — The Editors, Curbed, 15 Dec. 2025 Many Americans, while understanding that Washington was essential to the success of the revolution in his role as commanding general, would be hard put to explain why he is so highly ranked as president. — Sara Georgini, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Aug. 2024 From Brazil to Germany, companies are hard put to crew up, such is the demand by series and movies. — John Hopewell, Variety, 10 May 2023 This item, which has more in common with a tabletop decoration than a functioning reticule, would be hard put to accommodate a hairbrush; a cellphone would dwarf it. — Lynn Yaeger, Town & Country, 22 Jan. 2023 Japan itself, with a stagnant economy and the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, will be hard put to sustain the necessary military buildup. — Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, 28 Nov. 2022

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hard put

Adjective

Bettany is by turns hilariously perplexed, in the universal manner of parents engaging with teens everywhere, and achingly tender, in the more unusual way of a robot letting himself be overwhelmed by feeling for the first time.

— Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 12 Oct. 2026
College football fans were a little perplexed as to why the flag wasn’t thrown.

— Ryan Gaydos OutKick, FOXNews.com, 11 Oct. 2026

Definition of perplexed

Adjective

Thanks to the coffered and baffled wood ceilings, noise levels are buffered and kept to a pleasant rumble.

— Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 25 Sep. 2026
The idea of there being two movies about concrete in the first place is baffling to me; Wilson, on the other hand, seems baffled that such a situation would stop a studio from greenlighting a project.

— Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 16 Sep. 2026

Definition of baffled

Adjective

By the time Lee’s moved on to thanking his dad for not believing him, thereby giving him something to prove, an embarrassed Frances is making a quick run for the exit.

— Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 15 Oct. 2026
Dallas got thoroughly embarrassed at home by a winless Buccaneers squad, surrendering 241 rushing yards and making an 0-4 offense look explosive.

— Alejandro Avila OutKick, FOXNews.com, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of embarrassed

Adjective

What appears before the bewildered trio is a boy with a face resembling a frog’s, named Fūsuke.

— Jennifer Maas, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026
But Iñárritu’s caricatures become people in a way Kubrick’s don’t; as the bewildered President, for example, John Goodman is simultaneously grounded and theatrical in his presentation, recalling his best work with the Coen brothers.

— Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 30 Sep. 2026