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harden

 - 3 dictionary results

hard⋅en

  [hahr-dn]
–verb (used with object)
1. to make hard or harder: to harden steel.
2. to make pitiless or unfeeling: to harden one's heart.
3. to make rigid or unyielding; stiffen: The rigors of poverty hardened his personality.
4. to strengthen or confirm, esp. with reference to character, intentions, feelings, etc.; reinforce.
5. to make hardy, robust, or capable of endurance; toughen.
6. Military. to reinforce the structure of (a military or strategic installation) to protect it from nuclear bombardment.
–verb (used without object)
7. to become hard or harder.
8. to become pitiless or unfeeling.
9. to become rigid or unyielding; stiffen: His personality hardened over the years.
10. to become confirmed or strengthened: His resistance hardened.
11. to become inured or toughened: The troops hardened under constant fire.
12. Commerce. (of a market, prices, etc.)
a. to cease to fluctuate; firm: When the speculators withdrew from the market, the prices hardened.
b. to rise higher.
Use harden in a Sentence
Origin:
1150–1200; ME; see hard, -en 1

Related forms:
hard⋅en⋅a⋅ble, adjective
hard⋅en⋅a⋅bil⋅i⋅ty, noun

Synonyms:
1. solidify, indurate; petrify, ossify. 4. fortify, steel, brace, nerve.

Antonyms:
1. soften. 4. weaken.

Har⋅den

  [hahr-dn]
–noun
Sir Arthur, 1865–1940, English biochemist: Nobel prize 1929.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To harden
hard·en   (här'dn)   
v.   hard·ened, hard·en·ing, hard·ens

v.   tr.

  1. To make hard or harder.

  2. To enable to withstand physical or mental hardship.

  3. To make unfeeling, unsympathetic, or callous: "To love love and not its meaning hardens the heart in monstrous ways" (Archibald MacLeish).

  4. To make sharp, as in outline.

  5. To protect (nuclear weapons) by surrounding with earth or concrete.

v.   intr.

  1. To become hard or harder.

  2. To rise and become stable. Used of prices.

  3. To become inured.

Synonyms: These verbs mean to make resistant to hardship, especially through continued exposure: was hardened to frontier life; is acclimated to the tropical heat; was acclimatized by long hours to overwork; became seasoned to life in prison; toughened by experience.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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