as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
a case-hardened homicide detective who has seen it all
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for case-hardened
Adjective
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Lydia, naturally, has her own reasons for pairing Agnes and Daisy together, evolving from a ruthless zealot and disciplinarian in Handmaid’s Tale into a kind of double agent looking to overthrow Gilead from within the hallowed halls of power in Testaments, as the finale set her up to do.—
Max Gao,
HollywoodReporter,
5 Mar. 2026 -
After enduring a tough patch in business, fate changes his course, turning him into El Serpiente, a ruthless political strategist.—
Anna Marie de la Fuente,
Variety,
3 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Waltz lends a slimy charisma to the merciless SS colonel, who gets a satisfying comeuppance via carving knife.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
4 Mar. 2026
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These are two of the most conniving, merciless people on television, and they’re bonded by the twin desire to be more like the other.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
23 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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With a 15 percent slope and soils consisting of shattered rock and very stony loam with a small percentage of clay, the soil is low in organic matter and drains extremely well.—
Mike DeSimone,
Robb Report,
22 Feb. 2026
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The sculptor, David Adickes, was an Army veteran who'd wanted his stony visages to gleam.—
Danielle Paquette The Washington Post,
Arkansas Online,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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His conundrum is crystallized in his promise to make more movies — 30 a year between both studios.—
Reeves Wiedeman,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2026
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The moment everything crystallized was the night of our first-ever live show.—
Roger Bennett,
Fortune,
2 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The only issue is his mother Laura (Wright), a woman who has lost a child once before and is petrified of a repeat.—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
5 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Case-hardened.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/case-hardened. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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