How to Use hard sell in a Sentence

hard sell

noun
  • Such an expensive project will be a hard sell during these slow economic times.
  • But that would be a hard sell to me.
    — William Mersey, New York Daily News, 8 Apr. 2026
  • Before the hard sell comes a pause.
    — Jack Lang, New York Times, 28 May 2026
  • So this was already a hard sell.
    — Ahmir “questlove” Thompson, Rolling Stone, 30 Oct. 2025
  • Front-wheel drive is a hard sell when there are rear-drive options.
    — Dave Vanderwerp, Car and Driver, 29 Nov. 2021
  • Green beans aren't usually a hard sell.
    — Maggie Meyer Glisan, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 Apr. 2026
  • That, plus just one Quad 1 win, makes the Huskers a hard sell.
    — Eden Laase, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2026
  • With poultry prices up as much as 50% in the last month, his is a hard sell.
    — Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Apr. 2022
  • All the shops are too successful to bother with the hard sell.
    — Mary Kaye Schilling, Town & Country, 15 Sep. 2015
  • But that could be a hard sell for farmers and other landowners.
    — Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2019
  • But since no cars are for sale at the show, there's little chance of getting a hard sell.
    — Ronald Montoya, Edmunds, USA TODAY, 10 Feb. 2018
  • At the time, with the hard sell in full gear, the idea of a timeshare makes complete sense.
    — David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2019
  • The property, which opened eight years ago, was always a bit of a hard sell.
    — Brittany Martin, Los Angeles Magazine, 20 Oct. 2017
  • But as the years passed and Corey didn’t get up from his chair, his vow became a hard sell.
    — Kevin Sherrington, Dallas News, 22 Sep. 2021
  • But Thomson finds that thinking a hard sell in the Bend area.
    — OregonLive.com, 29 Oct. 2017
  • This is the one area where Panigrahi makes a truly hard sell.
    — Wired Staff, WIRED, 20 Nov. 2024
  • Strief, Payton and the Broncos put the hard sell on.
    — Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Even for the angriest young Muslim man, this might be a bit of a hard sell.
    — Audrey Kurth Cronin, Foreign Affairs, 18 Feb. 2015
  • Pitch-black satire can be a hard sell, but the Academy often eats it up.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 19 Mar. 2022
  • Back them, online was a hard sell for a market in which 70% of sales are made in-store.
    — Kate Matthams, Forbes, 14 Jan. 2025
  • Trump’s effort to tie Democrats to spikes in the price of health insurance is a hard sell.
    — Juan Williams, Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2026
  • The hard sell of battery projects can also strengthen pushback.
    — Bloomberg, Oc Register, 23 Apr. 2026
  • The hard sell is not the best way to earn the interest and loyalty of your customers.
    — Christena Garduno, Forbes, 7 Dec. 2021
  • The One was a hard sell, according to agents who toured the property.
    — Katherine Clarke, WSJ, 28 July 2022
  • Staying away from hard sell might lure sponsors to the Big Game in the moment.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 27 June 2023
  • Lifting the indoor mask mandate in schools may be a hard sell in the District right now.
    — Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2022
  • And Tuesday and Wednesday of that first week are still going to be a hard sell.
    — Joe Rexrode, New York Times, 10 July 2025
  • That would have been a hard sell even if the Wolverines prevailed Wednesday.
    — Rainer Sabin, Detroit Free Press, 1 Jan. 2020
  • Wine trends also have favored boozy and bracing styles, a hard sell for folks used to sipping hard seltzers at the club.
    — ABC News, 22 June 2026
  • Was this initiative a hard sell to league officials and team owners?
    — Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 5 Feb. 2026

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

Last Updated: