harden (redirected from harden off)

hard·en  (härdn)

v. hard·ened, hard·en·ing, hard·ens

v.tr.

1. To make hard or harder.

2. To enable to withstand physical or mental hardship.

3. To make unfeeling, unsympathetic, or callous: "To love love and not its meaning hardens the heart in monstrous ways" (Archibald MacLeish).

4. To make sharp, as in outline.

5. To protect (nuclear weapons) by surrounding with earth or concrete.

v.intr.

1. To become hard or harder.

2. To rise and become stable. Used of prices.

3. To become inured.

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; toughened by experience.

---

harden

Verb

1. to make or become hard; freeze, stiffen, or set

2. to make or become tough or unfeeling: life in the camp had hardened her considerably

3. to make or become stronger or firmer: they hardened defences

4. to make or become more determined or resolute: the government has hardened its attitude to the crisis

5. Commerce (of prices or a market) to cease to fluctuate

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	harden - become hard or harder; "The wax hardened" indurate change - undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night" encrust, incrust - form a crust or a hard layer callus - form a callus or calluses; "His foot callused" harden, indurate - make hard or harder; "The cold hardened the butter" calcify - become impregnated with calcium salts cure - make (substances) hard and improve their usability; "cure resin"; "cure cement"; "cure soap" soften - become soft or softer; "The bread will soften if you pour some liquid on it"
	2.	harden - make hard or harder; "The cold hardened the butter" indurate change - undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night" face-harden - harden steel by adding carbon callus - cause a callus to form on; "The long march had callused his feet" anneal, temper, normalize - bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling; "temper glass" harden, indurate - become hard or harder; "The wax hardened" soften - make soft or softer; "This liquid will soften your laundry"
	3.	harden - harden by reheating and cooling in oil; "temper steel" temper modify - make less severe or harsh or extreme; "please modify this letter to make it more polite"; "he modified his views on same-gender marriage"
	4.	harden - make fit; "This trip will season even the hardiest traveller" season toughen - make tough or tougher; "This experience will toughen her"
	5.	harden - cause to accept or become hardened to; habituate; "He was inured to the cold" inure, indurate callous, cauterise, cauterize - make insensitive or callous; deaden feelings or morals brace oneself for, prepare for, steel oneself against, steel onself for - prepare mentally or emotionally for something unpleasant accustom, habituate - make psychologically or physically used (to something); "She became habituated to the background music"

---

harden

verb 1. solidify, set, freeze, cake, bake, clot, thicken, stiffen, crystallize, congeal, coagulate, anneal

verb 2. accustom, season, toughen, train, brutalize, inure, habituate, case-harden

verb 3. reinforce, strengthen, fortify, steel, nerve, brace, toughen, buttress, gird, indurate

Translations

harden [ˈhɑːdn] vt → endurecer [+ steel]; templar;

(fig) → curtir: [+ determination]; fortalecer

vi [substance] → endurecerse

harden [ˈhɑːdn] hard vt → durcir [+ steel]; tremper (fig); endurcir

vi [substance] → durcir

harden [ˈhɑːdn] hard vt → härten;

(attitude, person) → verhärten

vi → hart werden, sich verhärten

harden [ˈhɑːdn] vt → indurire [+ steel]; temprare;

(fig) [+ determination]; rafforzare

vi [substance] → indurirsi