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Glite Dictionary
to hit a rough patch

to hit a rough patch

5 4.8
To go through a short time with problems after a good time
  • idiom
translation icon : pasar por un mal momento
  • Despite their initial success, the business hit a rough patch and had to restructure to survive.
  • hit a rough patch last year

Examples

  • She had made a lot of money improving the quality of people's lives, but her firm hit a rough patch.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Look, I just hit a rough patch with the play.

    Bigger Than the Sky (2005)

  • It's what my parents did when they hit a rough patch, and it worked for them.

    Annabelle (2014)

  • Sometimes life happens, and you unexpectedly hit a rough patch.

    Blog text (18)

  • After all, it's not like Barack and Michelle haven't been very forthcoming and acknowledged publicly in interviews that they hit a rough patch in their marriage.

    Blog text (16)

  • The retail giant's former CEO, Brian Dunn, stepped down without warning this past April after the big-box retailer hit a rough patch and said during its fourth-quarter earnings call that it would shutter 50 U.S. stores.

    Blog text (12)

  • After several years of success, the team finally hit a rough patch when key players were injured.

  • Many couples hit a rough patch in their relationship, but communication can help them overcome challenges.

Synonyms

to hit the skids
vsto hit a rough patch
  • Informal
3 8.4

Start to fail after a time of success

is a shorter less severe period of difficulty after stability
rough time of it
vsto hit a rough patch
  • Informal
2 6.5

A period when someone has many problems

is a time of trouble that follows a period of success or stability
to hit the rocks
vsto hit a rough patch
  • Informal
1 7.4

Start having serious problems that lead to failure

is milder trouble that may not cause complete failure

Antonyms

stability
363 3.1

Being steady and not likely to change

on a roll
  • Informal
42 5.6

A period of continued success and good luck

How Difficult

crisis
∞ 3.1
setback
148 3.6
to hit a rough patch
5 4.8
in trouble
∞ 2.9

Surface Forms

hit a rough patch infinitive
hit a rough patch past
hit a rough patch past participle
hitting a rough patch present participle
hits a rough patch third person singular

Morphology

hit + a + rough + patch

The meaning is largely inferable from the parts: 'rough' = difficult, 'patch' = a short period/spot, and 'hit' = encounter, so a learner who knows those words can often guess it refers to encountering a difficult period. However, the use of 'patch' as a temporal period is somewhat metaphorical and the whole phrase is an extended idiomatic metaphor rather than strictly compositional, so understanding is not fully guaranteed without exposure.

Etymology

The phrase hit a rough patch comes from the image of driving along a road and suddenly hitting a short, rough patch that makes the ride bumpy. So, when someone says hit a rough patch, they mean you are going through a short 'difficult time'.