Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense hardens, present participle hardening, past tense, past participle hardened
1. verb
When something hardens or when you harden it, it becomes stiff or firm.
Mould the mixture into shape while hot, before it hardens. [VERB]
Give the cardboard two or three coats of varnish to harden it. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: solidify, set, freeze, cake More Synonyms of harden
2. verb
When an attitude or opinion hardens or is hardened, it becomes harsher, stronger, or fixed.
Their action can only serve to harden the attitude of landowners. [VERB noun]
The bitter split which has developed within Solidarity is likely to harden furtherinto separation. [VERB]
Synonyms: reinforce, strengthen, fortify, steel More Synonyms of harden
hardeningsingular noun
...a hardening of the government's attitude towards rebellious parts of the army. [+ of]
3. verb
When prices and economies harden, they become much more stable than they were.
Property prices are just beginning to harden again. [VERB]
4. verb
When events harden people or when people harden, they become less easily affected emotionally and less sympathetic and gentle than they were before.
Her years of drunken bickering hardened my heart. [VERB noun]
She was hardened by the rigours of the Siberian steppes. [VERB noun]
All of a sudden my heart hardened against her. [VERB + against]
Synonyms: accustom, season, toughen, train More Synonyms of harden
5. verb
If you say that someone's face or eyes harden, you mean that they suddenly look serious or angry.
His smile died and the look in his face hardened. [VERB]
harden in British English1
(ˈhɑːdən)
verb
1.
to make or become hard or harder; freeze, stiffen, or set
2.
to make or become more hardy, tough, or unfeeling
3.
to make or become stronger or firmer
they hardened defences
4.
to make or become more resolute or set
hardened in his resolve
5. (intransitive) business
a.
(of prices, a market, etc) to cease to fluctuate
b.
(of price) to rise higher
harden in British English2
(ˈhɑːdən)
noun
a rough fabric made from hards
harden in American English
(ˈhɑrdən)
verb transitive
1.
to make solid, rigid, or firm
2.
to make callous
to harden one's heart
3.
to accustom to varying or adverse conditions or climate
verb intransitive
4.
to become solid, rigid, callous, etc.
Word origin
ME hardnen < ON harthna & < ME hard, hard
More idioms containing
harden
harden your heart against someone or something
Examples of 'harden' in a sentence
harden
I have some ideas to harden your resolve.
The Sun (2017)
I have some ideas to harden your resolve.
The Sun (2017)
This is not a call to harden our hearts.
The Sun (2015)
Yet the locals insist that the shelling has only hardened their resolve to fight on.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
We explored what actions would keep from hardening attitudes or making people fearful.
Christianity Today (2000)
Do not let us have to think that the world has too much hardened our hearts.
Elizabeth Gaskell North and South (1855)
Repeat with the rest of the hazelnuts and leave to cool and harden.
The Sun (2014)
The solution is not to harden our hearts and invoke a crackdown.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
When his friends called him a coward his resolve was only hardened.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Those attitudes have hardened again in recent years.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Place on a flat surface to cool and harden.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Stories like this harden my resolve to do that.
The Sun (2009)
The point is that he has hardened his attitude to the task ahead.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
His broad smile disappeared, his dark eyes narrowed and his famous face hardened.
The Sun (2012)
Over time, that hardened into something nearer contempt.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Attitudes to people who don't have much money have hardened.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
In eight years, something has hardened.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
International opinion was hardening against him, his regime was targeted with sanctions and his grip on power challenged by a new rebel group.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
His eyes hardened again, like a bull's.
Carlos Acosta No Way Home: A Cuban Dancer's Tale (2007)
Faces harden and we are stared at with suspicion or, in some cases, downright hatred.
The Sun (2010)
Or is he actually hardening opinion in Japan, making it less likely that the whaling fleets will return to port?
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
It is astonishing how difficult the process has been - but also how hardened I have become.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
In other languages
harden
British English: harden VERB
When something hardens or when you harden it, it becomes stiff or firm.
Mould the mixture into shape while hot, before it hardens.
American English: harden
Brazilian Portuguese: endurecer
Chinese: 变硬
European Spanish: endurecer
French: durcir
German: härten
Italian: indurire
Japanese: 堅くする/堅くなる
Korean: 굳어지다
European Portuguese: endurecer
Latin American Spanish: endurecer
All related terms of 'harden'
harden up
to tighten the sheets of a sailing vessel so as to prevent luffing
case-harden
to form a hard surface layer of high carbon content on (a steel component) by heating in a carburizing environment with subsequent quenching or heat treatment
face-harden
to harden the surface of ( steel or iron ) by the addition of carbon at high temperature
harden off
to accustom (a cultivated plant) or (of such a plant) to become accustomed to outdoor conditions by repeated exposure
work-harden
to increase the strength or hardness of (a metal) by a mechanical process, such as tension , compression , or torsion
harden your heart against someone or something
to force yourself to feel unfriendly or unsympathetic towards someone or something, even if you do not want to
Chinese translation of 'harden'
harden
(ˈhɑːdn)
vt
[wax, glue etc]使变(變)硬 (shǐ biànyìng)
[person, attitude, resolve]使变(變)得冷酷无(無)情 (shǐ biàn de lěngkù wúqíng)
vi
[wax, glue etc]变(變)硬 (biànyìng)
[person, attitude, resolve]变(變)得冷酷无(無)情 (biàn de lěngkù wúqíng)
to harden one's heart使心肠(腸)变(變)硬 (shǐ xīncháng biànyìng)
1 (verb)
Definition
to make or become hard
Mould the mixture into shape before it hardens.
Synonyms
solidify
The thicker lava would have taken two weeks to solidify.
set
Lower the heat and allow the omelette to set on the bottom.
freeze
The ground froze solid.
cake
The mud had begun to cake.
bake
clot
The patient's blood refused to clot.
thicken
Keep stirring until the sauce thickens.
stiffen
The fine-tuning lens in the eye stiffens with age.
crystallize
Keep stirring the mixture or the sugar will crystallize.
congeal
The blood had started to congeal.
coagulate
The blood coagulates to stop wounds bleeding.
anneal
2 (verb)
Definition
to make or become tough or unfeeling
hardened by the rigours of the Siberian steppes
Synonyms
accustom
He accustoms us to a mixture of humour and tragedy in one play.
season
Both actors seem to have been seasoned by experience.
toughen
people who have been toughened by their daily circumstances
train
brutalize
He was selfish, guarded, brutalized by his Civil War experiences.
inure
habituate
The researchers first habituated each baby to their surroundings.
case-harden
3 (verb)
Definition
to make or become stronger or firmer
Their action can only serve to harden the attitude of landowners.
Synonyms
reinforce
They had to reinforce the walls with exterior beams.
strengthen
The builders will have to strengthen the existing joists with additional timber.
fortify
British soldiers working to fortify an airbase
steel
nerve
brace
The lights showed the old timbers, used to brace the roof.
toughen
laminated and toughened glass
buttress
His tough line is buttressed by a democratic mandate.
gird
They are girding themselves for battle against a new enemy.
indurate
Additional synonyms
in the sense of anneal
Definition
to toughen (glass or metal) by heat treatment
Synonyms
toughen,
steel,
strengthen,
temper,
harden,
case-harden,
indurate
in the sense of brace
Definition
to provide, strengthen, or fit with a brace
The lights showed the old timbers, used to brace the roof.
Synonyms
support,
strengthen,
steady,
prop,
reinforce,
hold up,
tighten,
shove,
bolster,
fortify,
buttress,
shove up
in the sense of brutalize
Definition
to make or become brutal
He was selfish, guarded, brutalized by his Civil War experiences.