harden
Syllables: hard·en/ˈhɑːdn̩/US/ˈhɑɹdn̩/
harden verb: to become hard. Also the alternative form of hurden.
Verb
harden (third-person singular simple present hardens, present participle hardening, simple past and past participle hardened)
- To become hard.
- The Chief Medical Officer of London Transport believes that public opinion against smoking will harden to the point of a total bar on the Underground, as in other countries.1959 May, “Accommodation for Non-Smokers”, in Railway Magazine, pages 295-296
- To make something hard or harder.
- To strengthen.
- 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.2002, Jane's International Defense Review, volume 35
- 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.2018 May 26, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London)
- To modify (a website or other system) to make it resistant to malicious attacks.
- To become or make (a person or thing) resistant or less sensitive.
- (obs.)
- 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.KJV, Exodus 4:21
- To get an erection.
- He hardened as he imagined himself running his hands over her small breasts1999 August 2, Karen Mitchell, “Files from the Feminet BBS NOVAD5.TXT 38.38 KB”, in alt.sex.stories.tg (Usenet)
- To become or make (a consonant) more fortis; to (cause to) undergo fortition.
- To unpalatalize or velarize.
- Of course one needs to keep in mind the fact that *tʹ and *dʹ are hardened before *e and *i in Ukrainian and Rusyn[…]2007, Stefan Pugh, A New Historical Grammar of the East Slavic Languages
- Belarussian preserved soft labials before vowels, hardened rʹ to r, and affricated tʹ and dʹ[…]2013 February 1, Philipp Strazny, Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Routledge, →ISBN, page 914
Proper noun capitalized: Harden
Harden (countable and uncountable, plural Hardens)
- A surname.
- A suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England (OS grid ref SK0101).
- A village and civil parish (with a village council) in the Metropolitan Borough of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE0838).
- A town in Hilltops council area, southern New South Wales, Australia.
Also used as
harden is also the alternative form of hurden.
harden meaning in Marathi and Thai
harden in Marathi
- to become hard
- कडक होणे kaḍak hoṇe
harden in Thai
- to become hard
- แข็งตัว kɛ̌ng-dtuua
Examples of harden in a sentence
- A roiling flutter within had me harden my gaze at the man I swore to seek revenge on.
- Seeing so much suffering for so long hardened his heart.
- She hardened her heart against his inevitable pleas.
Synonyms of harden
Antonyms
Forms of harden
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | hardens |
| present participle | hardening |
| past participle | hardened |
| past | hardened |
| Noun | |
| plural | hardens |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Hardens |
Origin of harden
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”).
Words formed from harden
Words that rhyme with harden
Questions about harden
- What does harden mean?
- Harden means to become hard.
- What is harden in Marathi?
- Harden in Marathi is कडक होणे (kaḍak hoṇe). See Harden meaning in Marathi.
- What part of speech is harden?
- Harden can be a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce harden?
- Harden is pronounced /ˈhɑɹdn̩/ (US).
- What is the past tense of harden?
- The past tense of harden is hardened.
Words near harden in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: harden (page history and authors); Harden (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-harden.wav.
Cite this entry: “harden.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/harden. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.