hardened heart
Refusal to feel
A hardened heart is one that has become callous and unfeeling, closed off to compassion, forgiveness, or moral appeal.
The phrase carries biblical weight—Pharaoh's hardened heart resisted God's commands.
Someone with a hardened heart refuses to be moved by suffering or pleas: Years of disappointment had given her a hardened heart.
The hardening suggests a process, not a natural state.
- coldLow temperature state
- ice coldExtremely chilled, near freezing
- cold shoulderIntentional dismissive treatment
- callousCruelly insensitive to others
- bitterSharp, unpleasant taste
unfeeling · stone · numb · shut off · closed · guarded · resentful · cruel · indifferent · frozen · obstinate · unmoved · turned away · pitiless · scarred · battle scars · jaded · cynical
- ExodusMoses, burning bush, ten commandments, Red Sea, ten plagues
- spiritual afflictionsdemonic possession, spiritual attack, spiritual darkness, spiritual death, spiritual crisis
- sinoriginal sin, mortal sin, venial sin, deadly sins, seven deadly sins
- disillusionmentdisillusionment, disenchantment, disillusion, lost innocence, lost faith
hardened hearttender heart
Capacity for deep empathy
open heart · soft heart · warm heart · tenderness · vulnerability
hardened heartkind heart
Compassionate inner nature
compassion · mercy · empathy · kindness · gentleness
hardened, harden, hard, harder, hardest, hardly, hardness, hardens, hardening