hardnessEnglishOxford English Thesaurushardness noun 1 the hardness of the ground: firmness, solidity, stiffness, rigidity, denseness, inflexibility, inelasticity, resistance. ▷antonyms softness. 2 there was a core of calculating hardness to this man: hard-heartedness, heartlessness, cold-heartedness, lack of compassion, lack of feeling, lack of sentiment, callousness, unkindness, flintiness, steeliness; harshness, severity, strictness, sternness, toughness. ▷antonyms compassion, kindness.hardness Oxford Dictionary of English