How to Use a hard/tough act to follow in a Sentence

a hard/tough act to follow

noun phrase
  • But the Tigers’ next coach will have a hard act to follow.
    — Tom Green | [email protected], al, 20 Nov. 2022
  • Bat Out of Hell was a hard act to follow, at least at first.
    — Al Shipley, SPIN, 21 Jan. 2022
  • The first iteration of the Switch is a tough act to follow.
    — Beatrice Nolan, Fortune Asia, 17 Jan. 2025
  • While their beloved debut is a tough act to follow, Why Lawd?
    — Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 3 Sep. 2019
  • To be sure, Galliano will be a tough act to follow at Maison Margiela.
    — Miles Socha, WWD, 29 Jan. 2025
  • And that, paired with the spectacle of it all, will be a tough act to follow for New Orleans next winter.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 11 Feb. 2024
  • President Joe Biden has a hard act to follow in Europe: his own.
    — Howard Lafranchi, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 June 2022
  • Season 1 was a tough act to follow, and this show needed more than two seasons to do it justice.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2025
  • Receivers this high school football season have a tough act to follow.
    — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 1 Aug. 2022
  • Her opening number will surely be a tough act to follow.
    — Marina Watts, Peoplemag, 1 July 2024
  • Dune won several Oscars for its craft, and Dune: Part Two likely will too, so that’s a tough act to follow.
    — Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • Elvis Presley is a tough act to follow — or, as Carol Burnett once learned, to precede.
    — Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2024
  • The Sanderson sisters -- famous for being campy, creepy and over-the-top -- are a tough act to follow, or perform alongside.
    — Mary Colurso | [email protected], al, 3 Oct. 2022
  • Wood is the former chief judge of the 7th Circuit, and judicial observers said Lee has a tough act to follow in replacing her on the court.
    — Bob Goldsborough, Chicago Tribune, 22 Sep. 2022
  • That said, John Malashock, who founded the organization in 1988, is a hard act to follow.
    — David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 May 2022
  • That's a hard act to follow, and the two subsequent films never quite reached the same heights, despite their box office success.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 23 Dec. 2021
  • Yet another reminder that Cassidy, much like the hallowed Fours on Canal Street, will be a tough act to follow.
    — Kevin Paul Dupont, BostonGlobe.com, 18 June 2022
  • To say that Diana is a hard act to follow is, well, an understatement: the late princess remains one of the most beloved figures not just in Britain, but across the world.
    — Elise Taylor, Vogue, 18 Oct. 2022
  • Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is the definition of a tough act to follow.
    — Emma Dibdin, Town & Country, 15 Aug. 2022
  • Everyone agrees that Queen Elizabeth II is a hard act to follow.
    — The Salt Lake Tribune, 20 Sep. 2022
  • Image: Nintendo The Nintendo Switch will be a tough act to follow.
    — Jay Peters, The Verge, 16 Jan. 2025
  • That is a hard act to follow, but the book provides an opportunity to spend time with the work in a more contemplative format.
    — Vince Aletti, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2024
  • College football has a hard act to follow after last Saturday’s wild ride.
    — Eddie Timanus, USA TODAY, 16 Oct. 2021
  • NorthPark has proven itself a tough act to follow, but that hasn’t stopped developers from trying.
    — Dallas News, 27 July 2022
  • The show would be a hard act to follow — Beyoncé and Michelle Obama are stans — but eight shows a week for months on end had taken a physical and emotional toll.
    — Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 29 July 2020
  • Broly was a massive hit theatrically both in Japan and especially in the U.S., and that is definitely a tough act to follow.
    — Ollie Barder, Forbes, 15 June 2022
  • Indianapolis' 2024 events calendar will be a tough act to follow.
    — Justin L. MacK, Axios, 25 Nov. 2024
  • Cleveland officials wasted no time in hiring the newest manager in Guardians history: the 39-year-old Vogt, who has a tough act to follow, but is looking forward to it.
    — Jim Ingraham, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2024
  • Stephenson, with his crotchety, larger-than-life performance in the Dickens’ Victorian holiday tale, would seem a hard act to follow.
    — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Nov. 2022
  • Twenty-seven years after her untimely death, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez is still a hard act to follow.
    — Isabela Raygoza, refinery29.com, 17 Apr. 2022

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

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