distressed
hard-pressed
hard put
in a bad way

"A man is hard put to do his best work without them."

They're hard put to it to make both ends meet.

We are hard put to understand how this situation came about.

I should have been hard put to it to explain.

Then you'd be hard put to imagine it any more than 1.

He had been hard put to keep up with her.

Our friend, the doctor, was hard put to it when he wrote this.

The group from the Enterprise were hard put to keep up with him.

And they moved with greater speed so he was hard put to keep them off.

He did so, hard put to keep up with her and still move quietly.