- hardness
- noun1. the property of being rigid and resistant to pressure; not easily scratched; measured on Mohs scale• Ant: ↑softness• Derivationally related forms: ↑hard• Hypernyms: ↑consistency, ↑consistence, ↑eubstance, ↑body• Hyponyms: ↑firmness, ↑incompressibility2. a quality of water that contains dissolved mineral salts that prevent soap from lathering-
the costs of reducing hardness depend on the relative amounts of calcium and magnesium compounds that are present
• Hypernyms: ↑quality3. devoid of passion or feeling; hardheartedness• Syn: ↑unfeelingness, ↑callousness, ↑callosity, ↑insensibility• Derivationally related forms: ↑insensible (for: ↑insensibility), ↑hard, ↑callous (for: ↑callosity), ↑callous (for: ↑callousness), ↑unfeeling (for: ↑unfeelingness)• Hypernyms: ↑insensitivity, ↑insensitiveness• Hyponyms: ↑dullness4. the quality of being difficult to do-he assigned a series of problems of increasing hardness
-the ruggedness of his exams caused half the class to fail
• Syn: ↑ruggedness• Derivationally related forms: ↑rugged (for: ↑ruggedness), ↑hard• Hypernyms: ↑difficulty, ↑difficultness5. excessive sternness-severity of character
-the harshness of his punishment was inhuman
-the rigors of boot camp
• Syn:↑severity, ↑severeness, ↑harshness, ↑rigor, ↑rigour, ↑rigorousness, ↑rigourousness, ↑inclemency, ↑stiffness• Derivationally related forms:↑hard, ↑inclement (for: ↑inclemency), ↑rigorous (for: ↑rigorousness), ↑rigorous (for: ↑rigor), ↑harsh (for: ↑harshness), ↑severe (for: ↑severeness), ↑severe (for: ↑severity)• Hypernyms: ↑sternness, ↑strictness
Useful english dictionary. 2012.