Definition of "hard-hit" []

• Badly or adversely affected: "Official rescue and recovery efforts were ... just getting underway in this ravaged port city and more than a dozen other hard-hit towns” ( R. Jeffrey Smith). (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In baseball, “he really clocked it” refers to the hard-hit ball; in football, “he really clocked him” is said over the sprawled-out form of the well-tackled runner."
• "But Mr. Donovan's push for a settlement of at least $25 billion always relied on delivering as many attorneys general as possible, particularly in hard-hit states like California and Florida."
• "Daimler shares were hard-hit during last year's stock market rout, but regained some ground since the beginning of the year amid a gradual recovery of the overall market."