noun
Meaning 1
The quality of being hard.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
hardness
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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General-American: härdʹnəs
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General-American: /ˈhɑɹdnəs/
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhɑːdnəs/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: HH AA1 R D N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
An instance of this quality; hardship.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
The quantity of calcium carbonate dissolved in water, usually expressed in parts per million (ppm).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: chemistry, inorganic-chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
The resistance to scratching, cutting, indentation or abrasion of a metal or other solid material.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
The penetrating ability of electromagnetic radiation, such as x-rays; generally, the shorter the wavelength, the harder and more penetrating the radiation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
The measure of resistance to damage of a facility, equipment, installation, or telecommunications infrastructure when subjected to attack.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
A measure of how hard a material is.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
Topics: engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences
Examples
- The hardness of the material was high.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
excessive sternness
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- severity of character
- the harshness of his punishment was inhuman
- the rigors of boot camp
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: severity, severeness, harshness, rigor, rigour, rigorousness, rigourousness, inclemency, stiffness
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sternness, strictness
noun
Meaning 9
the quality of being difficult to do
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- he assigned a series of problems of increasing hardness
- the ruggedness of his exams caused half the class to fail
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: ruggedness
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: difficulty, difficultness
noun
Meaning 10
devoid of passion or feeling; hardheartedness
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: unfeelingness, callousness, callosity, insensibility
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: insensitivity, insensitiveness
Narrower terms: dullness
noun
Meaning 11
a quality of water that contains dissolved mineral salts that prevent soap from lathering
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the costs of reducing hardness depend on the relative amounts of calcium and magnesium compounds that are present
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: quality
noun
Meaning 12
the property of being rigid and resistant to pressure; not easily scratched; measured on Mohs scale
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: softness
Broader terms: consistency, consistence, eubstance, body
Narrower terms: firmness, incompressibility
History
Etymology
From Middle English hardness, hardnesse, from Old English heardnes, from heard + -nes, equivalent to hard + -ness.
Across languages
Translations
33 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Armenian: պնդություն (pndutʻyun) — quality of being hard
- Armenian: կարծրություն (karcrutʻyun) — quality of being hard
- Bulgarian: твърдост (tvǎrdost) — quality of being hard
- Bulgarian: издръжливост (izdrǎžlivost) — quality of being hard
- Catalan: duresa — quality of being hard
- Czech: tvrdost — quality of being hard
- Dutch: hardheid — quality of being hard
- French: dureté — quality of being hard
- Friulian: durece — quality of being hard
- Galician: dureza — quality of being hard
- German: Härte — quality of being hard
- Ancient Greek: σκληρότης (sklērótēs) — quality of being hard
- Hindi: कठोरता (kaṭhortā) — quality of being hard
- Hungarian: keménység — quality of being hard
- Ido: hardeso — quality of being hard
- Italian: durezza — quality of being hard
- Latin: dūritās — quality of being hard
- Latvian: cietība — quality of being hard
- Malayalam: കാഠിന്യം (kāṭhinyaṁ) — quality of being hard
- Norwegian Bokmål: hardhet — quality of being hard
- Occitan: duretat — quality of being hard
- Polish: twardość — quality of being hard
- Portuguese: dureza — quality of being hard
- Quechua: sinchi — quality of being hard
- Russian: твёрдость (tvjórdostʹ) — quality of being hard
- Sardinian: duresa — quality of being hard
- Spanish: dureza — quality of being hard
- Spanish: duricia (disused) — quality of being hard
- Swedish: hårdhet — quality of being hard
- Tagalog: katigasan — quality of being hard
- Thai: ความแข็ง (kwaam-kɛ̌ng) — quality of being hard
- Turkish: zorluk — quality of being hard
- Walloon: durté — quality of being hard