idiom · neutral
fall on hard times
UK/fɔːl ɒn hɑːd taɪmz/US/fɔːl ɑn hɑrd taɪmz/fall on HARD TIMES
to begin to experience financial or other difficulties
Examples
“The family fell on hard times after the father lost his job.”
“Many small farms fell on hard times during the drought.”
“He used to be well-off but fell on hard times in recent years.”
Band 8 sentence
“Once a prosperous business, the bookstore fell on hard times after online retailers captured most of its customers.”
Collocations
- fall on hard times financially
- fall on hard times after
Word family
Common mistakes
fall into hard times→fall on hard times
fall on a hard time→fall on hard times
Say it for a higher band
5have problems→6be in trouble→7+fall on hard times
Synonyms
go through a rough patch
be in trouble
Easily confused
be down on one's luck
“After several rejections, she was down on her luck but kept applying for jobs.”
go through a rough patch
“They went through a rough patch in their relationship last year.”
Related words
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In Hardship
Learn it with its set