hardness
noun
Simple meaning
Being difficult to do.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hahrdnuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhɑɹdnəs
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.
noun
The quality of being difficult to do
“He assigned a series of problems of increasing hardness.”
The quality of being hard.
The resistance to scratching, cutting, indentation or abrasion of a metal or other solid material.
An instance of this quality; hardship.
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: The quality of being difficult to do
Used this way, hardness is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“He assigned a series of problems of increasing hardness.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use hardness
- “The costs of reducing hardness depend on the relative amounts of calcium and magnesium compounds that are present.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “hardness” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
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.