hardening
Growing more rigid
Hardening is the process of becoming hard or making something hard.
Steel undergoes hardening through heat treatment.
Arteries harden with age.
The term extends to attitudes and positions: a hardening of resolve, hardening opposition to the proposal.
In computing, hardening means securing a system against attacks by eliminating vulnerabilities.
Controlled heating and cooling
- annealingHeat-softening of metals
- quenchingRapid cooling process
- carburizingSurface-hardening heat treatment
- nitridingNitrogen-based surface treatment
normalizing · precipitation · cryogenic · sintering · carbonizing · microstructure · alloying · pearlite
Restoring health or preserving
- solidificationTransition to firm state
- vulcanizationChemically strengthening raw rubber
- polymerizationMonomers bonding into chains
- crystallizationForming ordered solid structure
calcification · ossification · petrification · mineralization · indite · setting · drying · calcium
Making more resistant
- enduranceSustained effort capacity
- gritDetermination or abrasive particles
- perseveranceSustained resolve despite obstacles
- tenacityPersistent grip or resolve
steadfastness · steeling · conditioning · acclimatization · desensitization · inurement · thick-skinned · seasoning
Becoming less pliable
- inflexibilityQuality of being unbending
- brittlenessProne to snapping
- solidifyingBecoming rigid or fixed
- firmingBecoming less soft
setting · freezing · congealing · seizing · locking · fixing · tightening
Reinforced subterranean stronghold
- strongholdFortified place of defense
- garrisonStationed military force
- citadelFortified urban stronghold
- bastionFortified defensive position
rampart · fortification · barricade · entrenchment · blockhouse · stockade · palisade · battlements
tempering
Controlled heating and cooling
- annealingHeat-softening of metals
- quenchingRapid cooling process
- carburizingSurface-hardening heat treatment
nitriding · normalizing · precipitation · cryogenic · sintering · carbonizing · microstructure · alloying · pearlite · diffusion
curing
Restoring health or preserving
- solidificationTransition to firm state
- vulcanizationChemically strengthening raw rubber
- polymerizationMonomers bonding into chains
crystallization · calcification · ossification · petrification · mineralization · indite · setting · drying · calcium
toughening
Making more resistant
- enduranceSustained effort capacity
- gritDetermination or abrasive particles
- perseveranceSustained resolve despite obstacles
tenacity · steadfastness · steeling · conditioning · acclimatization · desensitization · inurement · thick-skinned · seasoning · weathering
stiffening
Becoming less pliable
- inflexibilityQuality of being unbending
- brittlenessProne to snapping
- solidifyingBecoming rigid or fixed
firming · setting · freezing · congealing · seizing · locking · fixing · tightening
bunker
Reinforced subterranean stronghold
- strongholdFortified place of defense
- garrisonStationed military force
- citadelFortified urban stronghold
bastion · rampart · fortification · barricade · entrenchment · blockhouse · stockade · palisade · battlements · defensive
- texture changessmoothing, roughening, softening, wrinkling, cracking
- hardeningstiffening, solidification, solidifying, rigidifying, setting
- strengthening processestempering, annealing, quenching, heat treatment, carburizing
- heat treatmentannealing, tempering, quenching, normalizing, carburizing
- polymer damagedegradation, embrittlement, cracking, photodegradation, depolymerization
- sound changesassimilation, elision, deletion, voicing, nasalization
hardeningsoftening
Becoming less firm
liquefying · melting · dissolving · loosening · thawing
hardeningsoftening
Becoming less firm
mellowing · warming · opening up · sensitizing · gentling
hardeningweakening
Becoming less strong
enfeebling · softening · deteriorating · degrading · debilitating
- hardening offGradual outdoor exposure process
- hardening someone's heartMaking emotionally impervious
- case hardeningStrengthening metal's outer layer
hard, harden, hardness, hardened, harder, hardens, unhardened, hardener, rehardened