hardened
adjective
Simple meaning
Having been accustomed or desensitized to something unpleasant through exposure or experience.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hahrduhndSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhɑɹdənd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Having been accustomed or desensitized to something unpleasant through exposure or experience; inured.
Firmly established in a behavior seen as bad; unlikely to change one's ways; inveterate.
Unfeeling; pitiless; callous.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Having been accustomed or desensitized to something unpleasant through exposure or experience; inured.
Used this way, hardened is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Steel with a surface that is much harder than the interior metal.
Steel that is quenched in oil.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: having been accustomed
Antonyms
Sense: having been accustomed
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.