Word.ws English Dictionary

hardware

UK/ˈhɑːdˌwɛə//ˈhɑɹdˌwɛɹ/

hardware noun: fixtures, equipment, fasteners, tools, and devices used for general-purpose construction and repair of a structure or object. Also such equipment as sold as stock by a store of the same name, e.g. hardware store. Also the ellipsis of hardware store.

Noun

hardware (uncountable)

  1. Fixtures, equipment, fasteners, tools, and devices used for general-purpose construction and repair of a structure or object. Also such equipment as sold as stock by a store of the same name, e.g. hardware store.
    • He needed a hammer, nails, screws, nuts, bolts and other assorted hardware, so he went to the hardware store.
  2. (informal) Equipment.
    • military hardware
    • BOWEN: The monster trucks of Mars rovers, joke scientists, equipped with an array of sophisticated hardware to look for signs of water and answer scientists questions.2003 June 6, “Mission to Mars”, in CBS_Rather
  3. The part of a computer that is fixed and cannot be altered without replacement or physical modification; motherboard, expansion cards, etc.
    • Hardware is the generally accepted colloquism for anything inside a computer other than an engineer.1952, R.L. Michaelson, “Binary Arithmetic”, in The Incorporated Statistician, volume 3, number 1 (Feb. 1952), pages 35–40
  4. Electronic equipment.
  5. Metal implements.
    • The designers have put their logo on the hardware of this bag here.
  6. (slang) A firearm.
  7. (slang) Medals or trophies.

Also used as

hardware is also the ellipsis of hardware store.

hardware meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

hardware in Hindi

material part of a computer
हार्डवेयर hārḍaveyar

hardware in Tamil

வன்பொருள், வன்பொருள்கள்

hardware in Marathi

material part of a computer
हार्डवेअर hārḍavear

hardware in Urdu

material part of a computer
ہارڈ ویئر hārḍ-vear, مصنع کثیف musanna'-e-kasīf
More languagesFewer languages
hardware in Bengali
হার্ডওয়্যার hardoêr
hardware in Telugu
హార్డ్వేర్, యంత్రాంశం
hardware in Malayalam
ഹാർഡ്വെയർ, ഹാർഡ്വെയറുകൾ
hardware in Kannada
ಯಂತ್ರಾಂಶ, ಯಂತ್ರಾಂಶಗಳು, ಹಾರ್ಡ್ವೇರ್
hardware in Punjabi
ਹਾਰਡਵੇਅਰ, ਹਾੱਡਵੇਅਰ
hardware in Gujarati
હાર્ડવેર
hardware in Odia
ହାର୍ଡୱେର୍, ହାର୍ଡୱେଯ଼ାର, ହାର୍ଡୱେର
hardware in Nepali
हार्डवेयर
hardware in Arabic
مَتاع الحاسب, المَتاع al-matāʕ
hardware in Malay
peralatan, kelengkapan, perkakasan
hardware in Indonesian
peralatan, perlengkapan, perangkat keras, peranti keras
hardware in Persian
سختافزار saxt-afzâr
hardware in Thai
ฮาร์ดแวร์ háat-wɛɛ
hardware in Vietnamese
cương liệu, phần cứng, phần máy
Sindhi
ڳڻپيوگري g̠ṇpeogre, سامگري sāmagarī

Examples of hardware in a sentence

  • It is one thing to see an intercooler as a simple entry in a textbook, but to witness the actual hardware as it crawled down the road was awe-inspiring.2009 May, Lee S. Langston, “plowing new ground.”, in Mechanical Engineering, volume 131, number 5, page 40:
  • Smaller, turbocharged engines are one way to increase engine efficiency by 8 to 10 percent, but the extra hardware is expensive.2011 January, “Swedish Sportster”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 188, number 1, page 27:

All 40 example sentences with hardware

Origin of hardware

From Middle English hardware; equivalent to hard + -ware; attested since the mid-15th century.

Words formed from hardware

Phrases with hardware

Questions about hardware

What does hardware mean?
Hardware means fixtures, equipment, fasteners, tools, and devices used for general-purpose construction and repair of a structure or object. Also such equipment as sold as stock by a store of the same name, e.g. hardware store.
What is hardware in Hindi?
Hardware in Hindi is हार्डवेयर (hārḍaveyar). See Hardware meaning in Hindi.
How do you use hardware in a sentence?
It is one thing to see an intercooler as a simple entry in a textbook, but to witness the actual hardware as it crawled down the road was awe-inspiring.
What part of speech is hardware?
Hardware is a noun.
How do you pronounce hardware?
Hardware is pronounced /ˈhɑɹdˌwɛɹ/ (US).

Words near hardware in the dictionary

  1. Harduri
  2. hardvapour
  3. hardveld
  4. hardveldt
  5. hardwall
  6. hardware
  7. hardware acceleration
  8. hardware cloth
  9. hardware cloths
  10. hardware description language
  11. hardware description languages

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hardware (page history and authors); hardware (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hardware (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hardware (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hardware (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hardware (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hardware (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hardware (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hardware (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: en-us-hardware.ogg.

Cite this entry: “hardware.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hardware. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.