How to Use hard labor in a Sentence

hard labor

noun
  • Swain built his life on hard labor.
    — Joshua Sharpe august 6, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2025
  • And then there’s the sound of hard labor.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 28 Sep. 2025
  • The injury meant the hard labor jobs had to stop.
    — Dante Motley, Austin American Statesman, 26 Nov. 2025
  • He had been sentenced to eight years of hard labor in prison.
    — Haruka Nuga, Fox News, 9 Mar. 2018
  • The strain from the cold and the hard labor may cause a heart attack.
    — Forrest Brown, CNN, 30 Oct. 2021
  • The people in his world were maimed and marked by hard labor and hard living.
    — Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2022
  • He was sentenced to 40 years at hard labor on each of the charges.
    — Heather Nolan, NOLA.com, 14 May 2018
  • He was sentenced to five years of hard labor and forced to pay the costs of his trial.
    — Jay Cheshes, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 May 2025
  • Women’s hair gets chopped off, and women and men work side by side in hard labor.
    — Kyle Smith, National Review, 6 June 2019
  • From there, he was leased to work hard labor on a railroad for twenty-five cents a day.
    — Tom Maxwell, Longreads, 5 Oct. 2017
  • The charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison with or without hard labor.
    — Littice Bacon-Blood, NOLA.com, 11 Jan. 2018
  • Years of hard labor and alcohol abuse have taken their toll.
    — Joe Otterson, Variety, 26 May 2026
  • The men were sent to prison and the women sentenced to house arrest with hard labor.
    — Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
  • The few months of hard labor can earn enough extra income to keep their homes running for the rest of the year.
    — Suzanne Nuyen, NPR, 20 Apr. 2026
  • The hard labor occurs in the quiet strip between the paint and the perimeter.
    — Lee Jenkins, SI.com, 14 Mar. 2016
  • Lee noticed that the dancers began training at an early age and were spared from hard labor.
    — Yangyang Cheng, NPR, 5 Sep. 2024
  • He is sentenced to 90 days hard labor and a reduction of rank.
    — CNN, 11 Mar. 2022
  • The initial death sentence was commuted to three years of hard labor.
    — Jesse Leavenworth, courant.com, 13 Oct. 2021
  • Arvid was soon sentenced to hang; Mildred was sentenced to six years of hard labor.
    — New York Times, 4 Aug. 2021
  • He was charged with espionage and sentenced to 16 years of hard labor.
    — Cary Junior Ii, Detroit Free Press, 31 Dec. 2022
  • Seven soldiers were sentenced to 10-year prison terms with hard labor last week over the killings.
    — Bard Wilkinson, CNN, 16 Apr. 2018
  • Such antics are a spectacular sight for the fans but hard labor for the drivers.
    — Tony Assenza, Car and Driver, 23 June 2020
  • But there’s a lot of big tech companies that are getting the dividends of a lot of artists’ hard labor.
    — Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 15 Oct. 2021
  • McDonald’s life sentence of hard labor did not mark the end of his scheming.
    — David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Feb. 2021
  • After an hour-long trial, the student was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years hard labor.
    — NBC News, 20 Jan. 2022
  • Instead of the electric chair, Herndon would have suffered a slow, painful death through hard labor.
    — John Yoo and John Shu, Newsweek, 24 Jan. 2025
  • In fact, about a week later, Fenster was sentenced to 11 years of hard labor in prison.
    — Chris Kenning, USA TODAY, 19 Apr. 2023
  • Two years ago this week, he was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor on charges of spying and stealing state secrets.
    — Jonathan Cheng, WSJ, 22 Apr. 2018
  • The colonial-era laws call for penalties that range from 10 years to life in prison, with one including hard labor as well.
    — DÁnica Coto, Star Tribune, 17 Feb. 2021
  • But 50 refused and were sentenced to hard labor ranging from 8 to 15 years.
    — Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 June 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hard labor.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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