hardened someone's heart
Made them unfeeling
To harden someone's heart is to make them less sympathetic, compassionate, or willing to forgive.
The phrase draws on the biblical image of Pharaoh's heart being hardened against the Israelites.
Years of betrayal had hardened her heart against him.
The constant rejection hardened his heart to any future appeals.
- indifferenceLack of interest
- cold shoulderIntentional dismissive treatment
- remorseGuilt for wrongdoing
- bitternessSharp, unpleasant taste or feeling
- denialRefusal to accept reality
divine judgment · forgiveness · desensitization · coldness · heart of stone · apathy · callousness · redemption · mercy · grace · numbness · closed off · wall up · moral struggle · Pharaoh · compartmentalization · shut out · turned away