hardness
Americannoun
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hardnesses
plural
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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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
The experiments showed that the approach could preserve the hardness and mechanical integrity associated with conventionally manufactured WC-Co cemented carbide.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Grain growth occurs when the microscopic crystals inside a material become larger, which can change its hardness and mechanical performance.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
The laser-leading method avoided some of those problems but initially struggled to maintain the required hardness.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
It is a pas de deux of contrasts—roughness and polish, hardness and softness, danger and safety.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
She did not like to think of with what hardness of heart, what calculated weeping, what deceit, what cruelty she now went into battle with her aunt for her freedom.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
Mineral lattices have important implications for mineral properties, as exemplified by the relative hardnesses of diamond and graphite.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
No doubt, then, the hardnesses and difficulties of any one's lot are part of the divine ordering for the best growth of the person's life.
From Making the Most of Life by J. R. (James Russell) Miller
The rest, though they are not free from certain hardnesses, have a pathos and greatness in their simplicity, sufficient to endear the legitimate Sonnet to every Reader of just taste.
From Original sonnets on various subjects; and odes paraphrased from Horace by Anna Seward
She had small hardnesses and little vulgarities of manner that drove him mad.
From Casa Braccio, Volumes 1 and 2 by J. André Castaigne
She had her full share of difficulties, hardnesses, disappointments, and physical weakness; but, whatever her feelings were, she rose above them, and went on with her work.
From The Angel Adjutant of "Twice Born Men" by Minnie Lindsay Rowell Carpenter
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.
