harden

verb

hard·​en ˈhär-dᵊn 

hardened; hardening ˈhärd-niŋ 

ˈhär-dᵊn-iŋ

transitive verb

1

: to make hard or harder

2

: to confirm in disposition, feelings, or action

especially : to make callous

hardened his heart

3

a

: inure, toughen

harden troops

b

: to inure to unfavorable environmental conditions (such as cold)

… work to mitigate future fires by clearing trees and hardening homes.

—Jake Bittle

—often used with off

harden off seedlings before transplanting

4

: to protect from blast, heat, or radiation (as by a thick barrier or placement underground)

intransitive verb

1

: to become hard or harder

2

a

: to become firm, stable, or settled

b

: to assume an appearance of harshness or severity

Her face hardened at the thought.

3

: to become gradually acclimatized to unfavorable conditions

—often used with off

plants hardened off before the first frost

Synonyms of harden

• freeze
• stiffen

Examples of harden in a Sentence

The presence of certain substances in the blood can cause the arteries to harden.

These additives are designed to harden the steel.

substances that can harden the arteries

The news has hardened opposition to the government.

He had been hardened by his years of military service.

Recent Examples on the Web

Matt Pender is the vice president of undergrounding and system hardening for PG&E. — Brady Halbleib, CBS News, 7 Nov. 2026

Some stories can harden moral perception, of course, pushing us to dichotomize the purely good and the purely evil, as in the moral pornography of superhero comics and revenge flicks. — Paul Bloom, New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2026

The October run identified 948, more than five times as many, despite three months of additional kernel hardening. — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2026

Both are open-source projects whose code has been inspected, tested, and hardened by developers and security researchers for years. — Wen Shao, Fortune, 5 Nov. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing harden

• case-harden
• harden one's heart

Rhymes for harden

• cardan
• garden
• pardon

Kids Definition

harden

verb

hard·​en ˈhärd-ᵊn 

hardened; hardening ˈhärd-niŋ 

-ᵊn-iŋ

1

: to make or become hard or harder

2

: to make unfeeling or unsympathetic

hardened his heart

3

: to make or become hardy or strong

muscles hardened by exercise

4

: to protect from blast, heat, or radiation (as by a thick barrier or by placing underground)

hardened missile sites

5

a

: to become firm, stable, or settled

b

: to express harshness

hardener

ˈhärd-nər, 

-ᵊn-ər

noun

Biographical Definition

Harden 1 of 2

biographical name (1)

Har·​den ˈhär-dᵊn 

Sir Arthur 1865–1940 English chemist

Harden

2 of 2

biographical name (2)

Maximilian 1861–1927 originally Felix Ernst Witkowski German writer