hardened

American  

[hahr-dnd] / ˈhɑr dnd /

adjective

1. made or become hard or harder.

2. pitiless; unfeeling.

3. firmly established or unlikely to change; inveterate.

   a hardened criminal.

4. inured; toughened.

   a hardened trooper.

5. rigid; unyielding.

   a hardened attitude.

6. (of a missile base) equipped to launch missiles from underground silos.

7. (of a missile) capable of being launched from an underground silo.

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hardened British  

/ ˈhɑːdənd /

adjective

1. rigidly set, as in a mode of behaviour

2. toughened, as by custom; seasoned

3. (of a nuclear missile site) constructed to withstand a nuclear attack

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Other Word Forms

• semihardened adjective
• unhardened adjective
• well-hardened adjective

Etymology

Origin of hardened

Middle English word dating back to 1325–75; harden, -ed ²

Example Sentences

Yet like many of the relatively more open-minded elite, his once-flexible positions have hardened during the unrest, which has posed the stiffest challenge to the regime in decades.

From The Wall Street Journal

Many of those around him have hardened too.

From The Wall Street Journal

Harwood days after winter storms dumped snow and rain that hardened into ice, his family said.

From Los Angeles Times

What began a week ago with Tehran shopkeepers has spread nationwide and hardened into anti-regime demonstrations.

From The Wall Street Journal

But we have not hardened them against a more present and increasingly destructive threat.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• seasoned