hardness of heart
Refusal to feel
Hardness of heart is a refusal to feel compassion or be moved by others' suffering.
The phrase suggests emotional calcification—a heart that has become stone-like and impervious to appeals for mercy or forgiveness.
It appears often in religious contexts, where it describes spiritual obstinacy: Pharaoh's hardness of heart kept him from freeing the Israelites.
Someone with a hard heart remains unmoved where others would relent.
- callousCruelly insensitive to others
- coldLow temperature state
- unfeelingWithout compassion or emotion
- mercilessShowing no clemency
- no mercyComplete absence of clemency
pitiless · without pity · cruel · stone · indifferent · unmoved · ruthless · stony · frozen · cold shoulder · bitter · obstinate · unyielding · pharaoh · impenitent · deaf · blind · closed off
- Biblical Marriagemarriage covenant, bride, husband and wife, bridegroom, groom
hardness of hearttenderness
Gentle, caring quality
soft-heartedness · compassion · tender-heartedness · softheartedness · warmth
hardness of heartmercy
Compassion toward offenders
mercifulness · forgiveness · clemency · lenience · leniency
hardness of heartbroken heart
Emotional pain from loss
penitence · receptiveness · openness · humility · meekness
hard, harder, hardest, harden, hardened, hardening, hardener, hardly, hardness