Entry Word: harden

Function: verb

Meaning: 1 to become physically firm or solid <waited for the bubbly caramel-and-nut sauce to cool and harden into peanut brittle>

Synonyms concrete, congeal, firm (up), freeze, set, solidify

Related Words cake, callus, encrust (also incrust); coagulate, clot, gel, jell, jelly, stiffen, thicken; calcify, crystallize, ossify, petrify; anneal, case harden, temper

Near Antonyms deliquesce, dissolve, flux, fuse, liquefy, melt, smelt, thaw

Antonyms soften

2 to make able to withstand physical hardship, strain, or exposure <pioneer women who had been hardened by years of living on the plains>

Synonyms fortify, inure, season, steel, strengthen, toughen

Related Words acclimate, acclimatize, adapt, adjust; anneal, temper; invigorate, vitalize; immunize; bolster, boost, brace, buttress, forearm, prop (up), reinforce, support; break in, limber (up), train; accustom, condition, habituate, naturalize

Near Antonyms emasculate, enervate, enfeeble, exhaust, sap, weaken; cripple, debilitate, incapacitate; sensitize

Antonyms soften

3 to increase the ability of (as a muscle) to exert physical force <arm muscles that were hardened by all the years of casting and hauling his fishing nets> — see strengthen 1