‘Have you ever noticed how all the truly bigoted expressions are blessed with _hard_ consonants?’

‘Of course I knew the title of the anthem, but I have never been able to pronounce it: too many _hard_ consonants in succession for my Latin vocal cords.’

‘Lindsay recently admitted she would never try _hard_ drugs after seeing how they affected her father.’

‘There is fear its use will spread among the thousands of _hard_ drug addicts in Dublin.’

‘only a handful are _hard_ enough to join the SAS’

‘Vince is a _hard_ player, a good talker, and unlike most good talkers, is a most positive doer.’

‘it’s been a long, _hard_ winter’

‘Experts at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh had been fearing a _hard_ winter.’

‘efforts to turn psychology into _hard_ science’

‘The _hard_ sciences, for example, are at the cutting edge of economic development.’

‘ _hard_ facts about the underclass are maddeningly elusive’

‘I think the time has come to stop playing around and to seek out some _hard_ information.’

‘The film was never shown in Britain, where _hard_ pornography was banned in cinemas, though plenty of people saw it on pirate videos at home.’

‘Like other addictions, addiction to pornography reaches a point when even ‘ _hard_ ’ pornography is not enough to produce the excitement the addict wants.’

‘Examples of _hard_ commodities include platinum, copper and oil.’

‘It is a company built on _hard_ assets.’

‘I would think you’d need _hard_ radiation to initiate the cascade, but that the decay product would be softer.’

‘There’s no air, there’s _hard_ radiation, there’s poison in the ground below you and of course, it’s between 100 and 150 degrees below in centigrade.’

‘a _hard_ SF novel’

‘This isn’t a movie for fans of _hard_ science fiction.’

‘ _hard_ water requires much more soap, shampoo, or detergent than soft water’

‘I live in a _hard_ water area and am concerned about the build-up of scale in the central heating system.’

‘If your wine is too _hard_ , too tannic, too acidic, snap the pouring unit onto your bottle, pour the wine through it, and it will be altered into a better state by the magnets inside.’

‘Too much tannin and the wine is _hard_ and earthy.’

‘the _hard_ left’

‘Thankfully, the moderate wing of the party split from the _hard_ left and the Falklands War took care of the rest.’

‘times were _hard_ at the end of the war’

‘he’d had a _hard_ life’

‘this is a really _hard_ question’

‘a _hard_ whack’

‘The next _hard_ blow to the head could be fatal, they said, and he must not fight again.’

‘the _hard_ light of morning’

‘The house is cold and the car is cold and everything is cold, bright, _hard_ and vacant.’

‘he can be such a _hard_ taskmaster’

‘She snatched the boy by his collar on his tunic, and half-dragged him the rest of the way up the hill, her face _hard_ .’

‘he’d been a _hard_ worker all his life’

‘everyone has been _hard_ at work’

‘airship-flying was pretty _hard_ work’

‘it’s _hard_ for drummers these days’

‘the slate broke on the _hard_ floor’

‘rub the varnish down when it’s _hard_ ’

‘Beer is consumed as a typical light alcoholic beverage, while rum is the _hard_ liquor of choice.’

‘Start guzzling _hard_ liquor right off the bat and the binge is over before it started.’

‘the mortar has set _hard_ ’

‘This was a material that once it set _hard_ would not soften under heat.’

‘put the wheel _hard_ over to starboard’

‘It hit with a deafening roar, punching the ship sideways so violently that it rolled _hard_ over to port.’

‘they work _hard_ at school’

‘The mayor also urged the children to study _hard_ to prove that they deserved the scholarships.’

‘it was raining _hard_ ’

‘He hit the ground incredibly _hard_ and shattered both his legs but was otherwise unharmed aside from some bruising.’

‘Although The _Hard_ is not a designated town centre it is recognised as a specialist retail and leisure area.’

‘Where hards form part of a name they often do so in combination with an adjective or a person’s name.’