hardness
Americannoun
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the state or quality of being hard.
the hardness of ice.
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a relative degree or extent of this quality.
wood of a desirable hardness.
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that quality in water that is imparted by the presence of dissolved salts, especially calcium sulfate or bicarbonate.
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unfeelingness or jadedness; callousness.
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harshness or austerity, as of a difficult existence.
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South Midland U.S. ill will; bad feelings.
There's a lot of hardness between those two boys.
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Mineralogy. the comparative ability of a substance to scratch or be scratched by another.
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Metallurgy. the measured resistance of a metal to indention, abrasion, deformation, or machining.
noun
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the quality or condition of being hard
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one of several measures of resistance to indentation, deformation, or abrasion See Mohs scale Brinell hardness number
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the quality of water that causes it to impair the lathering of soap: caused by the presence of certain calcium salts. Temporary hardness can be removed by boiling whereas permanent hardness cannot
Etymology
Origin of hardness
First recorded before 900; Middle English hardnes, Old English heardnes; see hard, -ness
Vocabulary lists containing hardness
Earth Science - Middle School
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Structure and Properties of Matter - Middle School
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Rocks and Minerals - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The laser-leading method also struggled to maintain the hardness required for success.
From Science Daily • Mar. 13, 2026
You were able to capture so much about the daddy issues that she has and where the maybe hardness or prickliness comes from.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2025
"We examined different sand shapes, finding a sand that would give us hardness, combining elements of clay, silt and particle distribution to make sure that we had a high-binding strength soil," says McKay.
From BBC • Nov. 21, 2024
And the novelist Richard Ford once made it clear that questioning Ms. Munro’s mastery over the short story would be akin to doubting the hardness of a diamond or the bouquet of a ripened peach.
From New York Times • May 14, 2024
But he could not and it stayed at the hardness and water-drop shivering that preceded breaking.
From "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
