hard to resist
5
3.2
- idiom
:
difícil de resistir
- With all the delicious desserts on the table, it was hard to resist trying at least one.
And he said yes, because it was hard to resist that, that offer.
- And he said yes, because it was hard to resist that, that offer.
- I think I, I think I would find it hard to resist the demand for another referendum.
- And so you are pushed by the circumstances you're in to do this, and it's very hard to resist.
- I know when you when you use Melville, but it's hard to resist now.
Examples
-
Quite a few get eaten as they're picked, because it's just so hard to resist their aroma.
Academic text (1994) -
I'm finding it hard to resist, so show me what I'm looking for.
-
And he said yes, because it was hard to resist that, that offer.
-
It's hard to resist a woman as beautiful as she is.
Fiction book (1993) -
But for some, the unknown is too hard to resist.
-
I love the Penny Black cats and find them really hard to resist.
Blog text (12) -
Consumers find it hard to resist standardization because it usually costs less.
Academic text (1995) -
Moments spent holding precious babies, trying really hard to resist the urge to sneak one of them in my suitcase.
Blog text (9) -
When you present a professionally confident exterior and a top-notch product, your proposal will be hard to resist.
Blog text (1) -
As a tourist, I appreciate what Atlantis has to offer; it's hard to resist the outrageously overproduced theatrical environment.
Academic text (2009)
Synonyms
109
2.7
Causes you to want to do or have something even if you know you should not
88
3.8
Too attractive to refuse
How Tempting
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'very appealing or tempting' is directly derivable from combining 'hard' (difficult) with 'resist' (to restrain oneself); 'hard to resist' literally means 'difficult to resist'. This adjective + to‑verb construction is a regular compositional pattern in English (and has close parallels in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily grasp the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Hard to resist comes from the simple image of something so strong that it is hard to resist, like a magnet or a very sweet cake you cannot pull away from. So, when something is hard to resist, it is 'very tempting' and you find it difficult to say 'no'.