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Glite Dictionary
to harshen

to harshen

7.4
To make something seem more severe or unpleasant
  • verb
  • /ˈhɑːrʃən/
translation icon : endurecer
  • Don't harshen your tone with me!

Examples

  • The drought will only harshen the already difficult living conditions.

  • The cold wind began to harshen his features as he walked outside.

  • Criticism can harshen if mistakes repeat themselves.

  • Please harshen the criticism!

  • The severe weather has harshed the paint on the old house.

  • Years of neglect have harshed the once beautiful garden.

  • The factory's loud machines only harshen the peaceful atmosphere of the neighborhood.

Synonyms

to coarsen
vsto harshen
2 6.5

Make or become rough in texture and manners

makes things more severe in tone or appearance than mere roughness
to disharmonize
vsto harshen
9.1

Make different things or sounds clash so they feel unpleasant

affects mostly sounds rather than overall quality or appearance

Antonyms

to soften
50 3.1

Make something less strong or harsh

How Harsh

to brutalize
  • Offensive
34 7.7
to harshen
7.4
to harden
27 2.6
to roughen
2 4.2

Surface Forms

harshen infinitive
harshened past
harshened past participle
harshening present participle
harshens third person singular

Morphology

harshen = harsh (transparent) = harsh + en

Formed by the productive adjective-to-verb suffix '-en' added to the known adjective 'harsh', so the meaning 'make more harsh' is directly derivable.

Etymology

Harshen comes from the describing word harsh plus the verb ending -en, like in brighten and widen, so it means 'to make more harsh'. So, you can 'harshen' a voice, a face, or living conditions when they become harsher.