HARDEN

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does harden mean? 

• HARDEN (verb)
  The verb HARDEN has 5 senses:

1. become hard or harder

2. make hard or harder

3. harden by reheating and cooling in oil

4. make fit

5. cause to accept or become hardened to; habituate

  Familiarity information: HARDEN used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HARDEN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they harden    ... he / she / it hardens   
Past simple: hardened   
Past participle: hardened   
-ing form: hardening   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become hard or harder

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

harden; indurate

Context example:

The wax hardened

Hypernyms (to "harden" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Verb group:

harden; indurate (make hard or harder)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "harden"):

encrust; incrust (form a crust or a hard layer)

callus (form a callus or calluses)

calcify (become impregnated with calcium salts)

cure (make (substances) hard and improve their usability)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Antonym:

soften (become soft or softer)

Derivation:

hardening (the process of becoming hard or solid by cooling or drying or crystallization)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make hard or harder

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

harden; indurate

Context example:

The cold hardened the butter

Hypernyms (to "harden" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Cause:

harden; indurate (become hard or harder)

Verb group:

harden; indurate (become hard or harder)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "harden"):

face-harden (harden steel by adding carbon)

callus (cause a callus to form on)

anneal; normalize; temper (bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Antonym:

soften (make soft or softer)

Derivation:

hardening (the act of making something harder (firmer or tighter or more compact))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Harden by reheating and cooling in oil

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

harden; temper

Context example:

temper steel

Hypernyms (to "harden" is one way to...):

modify (make less severe or harsh or extreme)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make fit

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

harden; season

Context example:

This trip will season even the hardiest traveller

Hypernyms (to "harden" is one way to...):

toughen (make tough or tougher)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sense 5

Meaning:

Cause to accept or become hardened to; habituate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

harden; indurate; inure

Context example:

He was inured to the cold

Hypernyms (to "harden" is one way to...):

accustom; habituate (make psychologically or physically used (to something))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "harden"):

callous; cauterise; cauterize (make insensitive or callous; deaden feelings or morals)

brace oneself for; prepare for; steel oneself against; steel onself for (prepare mentally or emotionally for something unpleasant)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

 Context examples 

I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under my ulster.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now I could harden my heart.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

By it he had been formed and hardened into the Fighting Wolf, fierce and implacable, unloving and unlovable.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I wish I didn't feel 'em, but I do. I wish I could be hardened to 'em, but I an't.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is cold, cold; so cold that the grey heavy sky is full of snow, which when it falls will settle for all winter as the ground is hardening to receive it.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A vague thrill ran through me as I listened to my companion’s words and saw the stern gravity which had hardened his features.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The lines of his face hardened, and into his eyes came a fighting light.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A vascular disorder characterized by thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries.

(Arteriosclerosis, NCI Thesaurus)

Detailed experiments with these showed that the antibiotic minocycline was highly effective in preventing hardening of the arteries.

(Cause of hardening of the arteries – and potential treatment – identified, University of Cambridge)

Instead, the findings suggest a planet devoid of a massive atmosphere, and possibly hint at a lava world where the lava would become hardened on the night side and unable to transport heat.

(Spitzer Maps Climate Patterns on a Super-Earth, NASA)