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v. hard·ened, hard·en·ing, hard·ens v.tr. 1. To make hard or harder: harden steel. 2. To enable to withstand physical or mental hardship: was hardened by years of working as a farmer. 3. To make unfeeling, unsympathetic, or callous: The betrayal hardened his heart against intimacy. 4. To make fixed, settled, or less subject to change: "The incident only hardened existing attitudes while vanquishing any hope of collaboration" (Philip Dray). 5. To make less vulnerable to attack by surrounding with earth or concrete: harden missile silos. v.intr. 1. To become hard or harder. 2. To become fixed, settled, or less subject to change: "Her early skepticism has hardened into cynicism" (Kelly Braffet). 3. To become inured. 4. To take on a disapproving or severe appearance: His face hardened with suspicion. 5. To rise and become stable. Used of prices. Synonyms: harden, acclimate, acclimatize, season, toughen These verbs mean to make resistant to hardship, especially through continued exposure: was hardened to frontier life; is acclimated to the tropical heat; was acclimatized by long hours to overwork; became seasoned to life in prison; has become toughened by adversity. |
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