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harden. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
harden, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
harden in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English hardenen, equivalent to hard + -en. Cognate with Danish hærdne (“to harden; cure”), Swedish hårdna (“to harden”), Norwegian herdne (“to harden”), Icelandic harðna (“to harden”).
Verb
harden (third-person singular simple present hardens, present participle hardening, simple past and past participle hardened)
- (intransitive) To become hard (tough, resistant to pressure).
- (transitive, ergative) To make something hard or harder (tough, resistant to pressure).
- (transitive, figurative) To strengthen.
2002, Jane's International Defense Review, volume 35:In view of the system's relatively low cost, the preferred alternative could be for the military user to avail himself of multiple base stations rather than seeking to harden the base station hardware for defense applications.
2018 May 26, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London):Ramos had locked Salah’s right arm and turned him, judo-style, as they lost balance going for the same ball. Television replays hardened the suspicion it was a calculated move on Ramos’s part and, when Salah landed with a hell of a thud, the damage was considerable.
- (transitive, computing) To modify (a website or other system) to make it resistant to malicious attacks.
- (transitive, intransitive) To become or make (a person or thing) resistant or less sensitive.
- Synonym: inure
- KJV, Exodus 4:21
- When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
- (intransitive, informal) To get an erection.
1999 August 2, Karen Mitchell, “Files from the Feminet BBS NOVAD5.TXT 38.38 KB”, in alt.sex.stories.tg (Usenet):He hardened as he imagined himself running his hands over her small breasts
- (transitive, intransitive, phonology) To become or make (a consonant) more fortis; to (cause to) undergo fortition.
- (Slavic phonology) To unpalatalize or velarize.
2007, Stefan Pugh, A New Historical Grammar of the East Slavic Languages:Of course one needs to keep in mind the fact that *tʹ and *dʹ are hardened before *e and *i in Ukrainian and Rusyn […]
2013 February 1, Philipp Strazny, Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Routledge, →ISBN, page 914:Belarussian preserved soft labials before vowels, hardened rʹ to r, and affricated tʹ and dʹ […]
Derived terms
Translations
to become hard
- Bulgarian: втвърдявам се (vtvǎrdjavam se)
- Catalan: endurir-se (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 硬化 (zh) (yìnghuà)
- Czech: tvrdnout, ztuhnout (cs)
- Dutch: hard worden, verharden (nl), verstijven (nl)
- Esperanto: malmoliĝi
- Finnish: kovettua (fi) (hard); lujittua (fi) (tough)
- French: durcir (fr)
- Galician: endurecer (gl)
- Georgian: გამაგრება (gamagreba), გამყარება (gamq̇areba), განმტკიცება (ganmṭḳiceba)
- German: härten (de)
- Greek: σκληρύνω (el) (sklirýno)
- Hungarian: megkeményedik (hu), keményedik (hu)
- Ido: hardeskar (io)
- Irish: cruaigh, sioc, stalc
- Italian: indurirsi
- Latin: dūrescō, rigēscō
- Luxembourgish: häerden
- Maori: totoka
- Marathi: कडक होणे (kaḍak hoṇe)
- Occitan: durcir (oc), s'endurcir
- Polish: twardnieć (pl) impf, stwardnieć pf
- Portuguese: endurecer (pt)
- Quechua: chuchuyay, sinchiyay, rumiyay
- Romanian: întări (ro)
- Russian: тверде́ть (ru) impf (tverdétʹ), затверде́ть (ru) pf (zatverdétʹ)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: стврднути, отврднути
- Roman: stvrdnuti (sh), otvrdnuti (sh)
- Spanish: endurecer (es)
- Thai: แข็งตัว (th) (kɛ̌ng-dtuua)
- Turkish: sertleşmek (tr)
- Ukrainian: тверді́ти impf (tverdíty), затверді́ти pf (zatverdíty), тве́рднути impf (tvérdnuty), затве́рднути pf (zatvérdnuty)
- Walloon: aduri (wa)
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to make hard(er)
- Bulgarian: втвърдявам (bg) (vtvǎrdjavam), закалявам (bg) (zakaljavam)
- Catalan: endurir (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 硬化 (zh) (yìnghuà)
- Czech: vytvrdit, tvrdit (cs)
- Dutch: harden (nl), verharden (nl)
- Esperanto: malmoligi
- Finnish: kovettaa (fi) (hard); lujittaa (fi) (tough)
- French: endurcir (fr)
- Galician: endurecer (gl)
- German: härten (de)
- Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gahardjan)
- Greek: σκληρύνω (el) (sklirýno)
- Hungarian: megkeményít (hu), keményít (hu)
- Irish: cruaigh, sioc, stalc
- Italian: indurirsi
- Latin: firmō, dūrō, obdūrefaciō
- Maori: whakauka, whakapūioio, ūtonga
- Occitan: endurcir, durcir (oc)
- Polish: utwardzać (pl) impf, utwardzić (pl) pf
- Portuguese: endurecer (pt)
- Romanian: întări (ro)
- Spanish: endurecer (es)
- Turkish: sertleştirmek (tr)
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figurative: to strengthen
computing: to modify to make resistant to malicious attacks
to become or make less sensitive
phonology: to become or make more fortis
Slavic phonology: to unpalatalize or velarize
Etymology 2
Noun
harden (countable and uncountable, plural hardens)
- Alternative form of hurden (“coarse linen”)
Anagrams
Dutch
Pronunciation
Verb
harden
- (transitive) To render hard(er), more resistant etc.; to temper metal; to steel nerves
De geharde veteranen verbeten de pijn zonder jammeren.- The hardened veterans bore the pain without whining.
- (transitive) to endure, bear, stand, tolerate
Inflection
Synonyms
Noun
harden
- plural of harde