school of hard knocks
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Experiencing life's difficulties as a means of learning
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
trải nghiệm khó khăn trong cuộc sống như một phương tiện học tập
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a place where one learns through suffering
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He graduated from the school of hard knocks
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “school of hard knocks” mean?
Experiencing life's difficulties as a means of learning Literally: a place where one learns through suffering
Is “school of hard knocks” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.