Definition of "hard-pressed" []

• Experiencing great difficulty or distress: financially hard-pressed. (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.

• "Aside from subtle scriptural references on the posters, and the contemporary Christian music playing behind the reception desk, an unwitting visitor might be hard-pressed to identify the building as a church."
• "We are hard-pressed to think of many other behaviors that are so common among one half of the population and rare among the other half—maybe carrying a purse."
• "Like English-speakers in any era, Sir John and his fellow anti-inkhornians would have been hard-pressed to avoid borrowed terms."