| verb | become hard or harder “The wax hardened” |
| verb | make hard or harder “The cold hardened the butter” |
| verb | harden by reheating and cooling in oil “temper steel” |
| verb | make fit “This trip will season even the hardiest traveller” |
| verb | cause to accept or become hardened to; habituate “He was inured to the cold” |
| adjective | used of persons; emotionally hardened “faced a case-hardened judge” |
| adjective | made hard or flexible or resilient especially by heat treatment “a sword of tempered steel” |
| adjective | protected against attack (especially by nuclear weapons) “hardened missile silos” |
| adjective | made tough by habitual exposure; ; - Robert Lynd; - V.S.Pritchett “hardened fishermen” |
| adjective | converted to solid form (as concrete) |
| hardening | noun | the process of becoming hard or solid by cooling or drying or crystallization |
| induration | noun | any pathological hardening or thickening of tissue |
| temper | noun | the elasticity and hardness of a metal object; its ability to absorb considerable energy before cracking |
| tempering | noun | hardening something by heat treatment |
| temperance | noun | the act of tempering |