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Glite Dictionary
🧊 To harden again 💔 To toughen again
to reharden

to reharden

8.2
Make someone less kind or trusting again after they become softer
  • verb
  • /riˈhɑrdən/
translation icon : endurecer de nuevo
  • The betrayal by her closest friend only served to reharden her heart.

Examples

  • Difficult times can sometimes reharden people who had once become more open and trusting.

  • After years in the harsh environment, the experience seemed to reharden his attitude toward others.

  • He tried to reharden after the breakup.

  • Don't reharden your heart against others!

  • The constant disappointments in her life caused her to reharden and lose trust in people.

  • Seeing his former friend succeed despite his failures made him reharden his approach to relationships.

  • After experiencing betrayal, he found it hard not to reharden and guard his feelings.

Synonyms

to toughen up
vsto reharden
  • Informal
17 4.2

To become or to make someone mentally stronger and less hurt by criticism

makes someone unfeeling again with less sympathy rather than building healthy resilience
to desensitize
vsto reharden
10 6.3

To make people and animals feel less strong reactions to pain, fear or loud sounds, often by repeated exposure

restores moral unfeeling after earlier softness rather than by slow exposure
to harden one's heart
vsto reharden
  • Informal
1 7.7

Become less kind or caring after being hurt

makes someone unfeeling again rather than them becoming unresponsive themselves
to cauterize
vsto reharden
  • US
1 8.9

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

returns unfeelingness after earlier softening rather than simple deadening
to lithify
vsto reharden
  • Literature
9.9

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

returns emotional unfeelingness after earlier softening instead of initial stiffening
to indurate
vsto reharden
  • Formal
9.9

To make someone or something less able to feel pain and sadness from long hard experience

returns unfeelingness after earlier softening rather than creating first time habituation

Antonyms

to soften
50 3.1

Make something less strong or harsh

How Hardened

to numb
62 4.2
to reharden
8.2
to harden
57 3.9
to toughen
15 3.9

Surface Forms

reharden infinitive
rehardened past
rehardened past participle
rehardening present participle
rehardens third person singular

Morphology

reharden = harden (semi-transparent) = re + hard + en

Morphologically formed from 're-' + 'harden'; the formation is regular even if used metaphorically.

Etymology

Reharden is made of re- 'again' and harden 'to make hard'. That's why we also use it for people: it means to make someone less warm or more 'unfeeling' again after a hard experience.