Skip to main content
hard-to-please

hard-to-please

1 6.8
A person who is not easily pleased and often complains
  • adjective
translation icon : difícil de complacer
  • Her eyes were extremely black; even the most hard-to-please person on earth would not find fault with them.

Examples

  • Dealing with hard-to-please brides and grooms, what packages to offer,

    Blog text (15)
  • The chef is known for his exquisite dishes, but even he finds it challenging to impress his hard-to-please customers.

  • I mean, I mean, it's so hard to please five women in one dress if they were acting as the star of the show.

  • Each of the entrepreneurs occasionally deals with a hard-to-please customer.

    Blog text (2)
  • These behemoths convey some of the largest, hardest-to-please throngs of air travelers on earth.

    Blog text (20)
  • I made this tonight and it was delicious; even my hard-to-please hubby liked it, and even better, my 2-year-old picky eater gobbled it up!

    Blog text (26)
  • While he managed to win the trust of many Maronites, his success in collaborating with Amal depended on maintaining a working relationship with a hard-to-please regime in Damascus.

    Academic text (2013)
  • As a designer, she often creates unique styles that even the most hard-to-please fashion critics admire.

  • The movie received mixed reviews, but it surprisingly won over many hard-to-please audiences.

Synonyms

particular
vshard-to-please
106 4.4

Careful about small details and hard to please

is focused on wanting satisfaction rather than precise carefulness
picky
vshard-to-please
67 4.7

Being hard to please about food or small details

applies broadly to overall displeasure rather than only to choices
choosy
vshard-to-please
15 3.9

Hard to please when choosing things like clothes or food

seeks overall satisfaction rather than only during selection moments
finicky
vshard-to-please
12 7.1

Hard to please and careful about small details

is demanding but not limited to a strict focus on tiny details
hard to please
vshard-to-please
5 6.1

A person who is not easily satisfied and often complains

is the hyphenated adjective form written as one compound
demanding
vshard-to-please
4.1

Needing a lot of time, effort, or attention

refers to high standards for approval rather than requiring effort

Antonyms

22 2.6

Being calm and relaxed and not easily upset

18 4.6

To make yourself or someone else satisfied with something

How Demanding

hard-to-please
1 6.8
fastidious
8 8.0
picky
67 4.7
tolerant
72 3.2
undemanding
1 3.5

Surface Forms

hard-to-please positive

Morphology

hard-to-please = hard + please (transparent) = hard + please

The adjective's meaning follows directly from 'hard' (difficult) + 'to please' (to satisfy), so learners can infer 'demanding'.

Etymology

Hard-to-please is a plain English phrase made of hard and please, where hard means 'difficult' and please means 'to make happy or satisfied'. So, a hard-to-please person is someone who is not easily satisfied and often has high demands.