Definitions for hardening

• Definition
• Anagrams (413)

hardening hard·en·ing

Spelling: [hahr-dn-ing]

IPA: /ˈhɑr dn ɪŋ/

Hardening is a 9 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 14 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 16 points.

You can make 413 anagrams from letters in hardening (adeghinnr).

Definitions for hardening

noun

1. a material that hardens another, as an alloy added to iron to make steel.
2. the process of becoming hard or rigid.

verb (used with object)

1. to make hard or harder:
2. to make pitiless or unfeeling:
3. to make rigid or unyielding; stiffen:
4. to strengthen or confirm, especially with reference to character, intentions, feelings, etc.; reinforce.
5. to make hardy, robust, or capable of endurance; toughen.
6. Military. to reinforce the structure of (a military or strategic installation) to protect it from nuclear bombardment.

verb (used without object)

1. to become hard or harder.
2. to become pitiless or unfeeling.
3. to become rigid or unyielding; stiffen:
4. to become confirmed or strengthened:
5. to become inured or toughened:
6. Commerce. to cease to fluctuate; firm: to rise higher.

Origin of hardening

First recorded in 1620-30; harden + -ing¹

Examples for hardening

The whole year round the thorn has been hardening and sharpening.

They were street boys; their lives had been spent in a hardening atmosphere.

The hardening of an idea into a plan for a novel is a vague process and hard to describe.

The force of the two reacting spreads the foam through the chest cavity, hardening to apply pressure to any bleed sites.

Cf. Joseph and his brethren for this hardening of his heart.

Nor can the hardening of positions in Israel can be attributed to Israeli insecurity.

Blessed ignorance of the hardening influences of the coming years!

The drug halts the development of atherosclerosis, a word referring to the hardening of the arteries.

He was hardening his throat, and so slept with a wet towel about it.

The quicker the finished product gets into the hardening cabinet, the smaller the ice crystals.