Make Your Point: HARD-BITTEN

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pronounce HARD-BITTEN:

hard BIT un

connect this word to others:

Let's put the word hard-bitten into our collection of hyphenated adjectives formed from past participles, like
well-read,
well-bred,
well-traveled,
gilt-edged,
free-spoken,
ill-contrived,
jerry-built,
r____-cast ("created in an imprecise way"),
t___-worn ("worn out from too much hard work"),
and well-___t ("strong because all the parts are closely connected").

Could you come up with those last three terms?

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

(Source)

"Hard-bitten" dates back to the late 1600s in English. It means "biting down hard, like a tough dog who won't let go."

Over time, we applied the word to other animals, then to people who are tough, willing to hold on or fight for a long time, and possibly cynical due to all the struggles they've endured.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "She plays a hard-bitten assassin;" "It's funny when wealthy country singers try to sound edgy and hard-bitten in their lyrics."

Other forms:

None are common. You could use "hard-biting" instead, if you want to emphasize the action (of biting down hard on one's goals) rather than the quality (of tending to bite down hard on one's goals): "She plays a hard-biting assassin."

how to use it:

When you're tired of words like "gruff," "tough," and "hard-boiled," reach for the fun, clear, semi-common, folksy-sounding "hard-bitten."

We most often use it to describe fictional characters, but you could also apply it to real-life: talk about someone's hard-bitten words, gaze, posture, attitude and so on.

You could even get more abstract and talk about hard-bitten wisdom, places, or cultures.

examples:

"[Bruce Willis plays] a hard-bitten bounty hunter shooting his way through Maui."
— Glenn Kenny, New York Times, 10 November 2022

"As she sized me up, her eyes narrowing, the cigarette hung aslant from her mouth. Smoke drifted close to her face. It was a strange opposition: the hard-bitten private-eye expression on the face of a girl wearing a uniform for private school."
— Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex, 2002

has this page helped you understand "hard-bitten"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "hard-bitten" without saying "tough" or "tenacious."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "Not even the most hard-bitten (type of person) would want to travel back to the days when (life was extremely tough in some way)."

Example 1:"Not even the most hard-bitten adventurer would want to travel back to the days when the only way to reach the Pacific Ocean was in a wagon, going 8 to 20 dusty miles per day over harsh terrain while, I'm assuming, eating squirrels, caulking the wagon, and contracting dysentery."

Example 2: "Not even the most hard-bitten or nostalgic New Yorker would want to travel back to the days when the city was choked with waterfront factories and industrial squalor."
— Nicolai Ouroussoff, New York Times, 1 April 2011

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Recapitate the Headlines."

I'll give you some real but decapitated headlines, along with a selection of heads, and you try to reassemble them as they were originally published. (Or, feel free to play in "wrong answers only" mode, assembling the headlines in whatever way you find funniest.) You can check out some examples here.

Try these today:

__________ jobs
__________ radioactive wasp nests in South Carolina
__________ things

China's unemployed young adults are pretending to have
Experts assure minimal risk from
Quantum physics reveals there is no such thing as

To see the correct versions, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. A near opposite of HARD-BITTEN is

A. FLEDGLING (new, young, and naïve).
B. MIDDLING (moderate or just okay in quality).
C. MALINGERING (pretending to be sick to avoid work).

2. E. L. Doctorow's novel Ragtime flits from character to character in New York, from the glamorous Evelyn flouncing through her life of privilege to the hard-bitten _____.

A. Tateh eking out a living in the tenements
B. Freud enduring an exhausting trip to Coney Island
C. Mother's Younger Brother wandering wistfully through the salt marshes

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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