hardness en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- härdʹnəs (General-American)
- /ˈhɑːdnəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (US) audio
- /ˈhɑɹdnəs/ (General-American)
Etymology
From Middle English hardness, hardnesse, from Old English heardnes, from heard + -nes, equivalent to hard + -ness.
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) The quality of being hard.
Who can number the cloudes in wiſedom? or who can ſtay the bottles of heauen, / When the duſt groweeh^([sic – meaning groweth]) into hardneſſe and the clods cleaue faſt together?
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 38:37–38:
- (countable, uncountable) An instance of this quality; hardship.
- (countable, uncountable) The quantity of calcium carbonate dissolved in water, usually expressed in parts per million (ppm).
- (countable, uncountable) The resistance to scratching, cutting, indentation or abrasion of a metal or other solid material.
- (countable, uncountable) The penetrating ability of electromagnetic radiation, such as x-rays; generally, the shorter the wavelength, the harder and more penetrating the radiation.
- (countable, uncountable) The measure of resistance to damage of a facility, equipment, installation, or telecommunications infrastructure when subjected to attack.
-
(countable) A measure of how hard a material is.
The hardness of the material was high.
“This material has a specific hardness and is chemically very stable. It forms naturally from calcium alone, but bacteria accelerate the transformation into calcium carbonate,” explains Alejandro Montesinos, head of the Decarbonization, Climate Change, and Circular Economy Research Group at Tec de Monterrey and a member of the Institute of Advanced Materials and Sustainable Manufacturing.
2024 August 6, Ricardo Treviño, “Self-Healing Concrete Help Buildings Seal Themselves”, in TecScience, archived from the original on 19 Jan 2025:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| hardnesse | alternative, obsolete | lexicographic | |
| hardnesses | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Deriveds
total hardness · water hardness · macrohardness · microhardness · hardness of hearing · Shore hardness · nanohardness · Vickers hardness · Knoop hardness
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
metallicness · rockiness · stoniness
Relateds
rock · metal · hard · granite · steel · marble · bone · hardiness · crystal · iron · oak · concrete · diamond · flint · stone · harden · cement
Synonyms
renitency · rigidity · durity · induration · callosity · renitence · hardness · temper · stiffness · firmness · inflexibility
Translations (34)
io hardeso (quality of being hard) · tl katigasan (quality of being hard) · pl twardość (quality of being hard) · es dureza (quality of being hard) · ru твёрдость (quality of being hard) · hu keménység (quality of being hard) · hy պնդություն (quality of being hard) · oc duretat (quality of being hard) · th ความแข็ง (quality of being hard) · es duricia (disused) (quality of being hard) · qu sinchi (quality of being hard) · ca duresa (quality of being hard) · hy կարծրություն (quality of being hard) · lv cietība (quality of being hard) · pt dureza (quality of being hard) · hi कठोरता (quality of being hard) · cs tvrdost (quality of being hard) · it durezza (quality of being hard) · ml കാഠിന്യം (quality of being hard) · nb hardhet (quality of being hard) · bg издръжливост (quality of being hard) · bg твърдост (quality of being hard) · fr dureté (quality of being hard) · nl hardheid (quality of being hard) · wa durté (quality of being hard) · sc duresa (quality of being hard) · la dūritās (quality of being hard) · tr zorluk (quality of being hard) · de Härte (quality of being hard) · gl dureza (quality of being hard) · sv hårdhet (quality of being hard) · fi kovuus (quality of being hard) · grc σκληρότης (quality of being hard) · fur durece (quality of being hard)