🪨 To become stone 💔 To harden feelings

to lithify

9.9

To make someone emotionally hard and less able to feel or care

verb
/ˈlɪθɪfaɪ/

Literature

: endurecer emocionalmente

Years of betrayal had lithified her heart against trusting anyone again.

Examples

Repeated disappointments can lithify a person's outlook on life.
The harsh environment slowly lithified his once compassionate nature.
Don't lithify your emotions!
She lithifies her feelings to avoid pain.
Years of betrayal had lithified her heart against trusting anyone again.
Repeated disappointments can lithify a person's outlook on life.
The harsh environment slowly lithified his once compassionate nature.

Synonyms

to cauterize

vsto lithify

1 8.9

To make someone less able to feel sadness, guilt, or pity

is about becoming emotionally hard and rigid rather than just numb

to rigidify

vsto lithify

1 8.2

To make something stiff and unable to bend or change

is mainly about making someone emotionally hard rather than causing physical stiffness

to reharden

vsto lithify

8.2

Make someone less kind or trusting again after they become softer

is about making one emotionally hard even without prior softening

Antonyms

to soften

50 3.1

Make something less strong or harsh

Surface Forms

lithify infinitive

lithified past

lithified past participle

lithifying present participle

lithifies third person singular

Morphology

lithify = lithic (semi-transparent) = lith + ify

The formation is the same as the literal sense ('make stone'), but the meaning has been extended metaphorically to emotional hardening, reducing direct predictability.

Etymology

Lithify uses the Greek root lith- meaning 'stone', so imagine a person becoming 'stone-like', cold and hard inside. That's why to lithify someone in a figurative way is to make them emotionally hard or unfeeling.