How to Use hardness in a Sentence

hardness

noun
  • The wood's hardness makes it suitable for carving.
  • All the hardness that would sometimes creep across his face was gone in his sleep.
    — Shaheen Pasha, Longreads, 1 May 2020
  • Rather, his athleticism and hardness will get him to the league.
    — Corey Pronman, The Athletic, 29 Aug. 2024
  • The hardness of the food and the strength of the beak also influence what a bird eats.
    — Randy McMullen, Mercury News, 22 Dec. 2025
  • Williams gleefully forces our gaze upon him and his own try-hardness.
    — Emma Madden, Vulture, 8 Jan. 2025
  • As his younger, more romantic self, that hardness never quite goes away.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2026
  • The sight of her in bed turned his lungs cold, but the hardness usually in her eyes had vanished.
    — Aaron Gilbreath, Longreads, 22 May 2017
  • Another method is to perform a soil hardness test.
    — Nora Doonan, Hartford Courant, 4 Apr. 2026
  • That and the faux ivory ball didn’t have the hardness of the real thing, so billiard players spurned it.
    — Matt Simon, WIRED, 27 Oct. 2022
  • Beers, meanwhile, is out here testing rubber hardness—and more.
    — Cam Wolf, GQ, 19 Apr. 2018
  • The speed and the shape of the extruder help determine the hardness of the ice.
    — Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 11 May 2023
  • Clear, crystalline and sharp, diamonds are known for their hardness.
    — Sophie Putka, Discover Magazine, 21 May 2021
  • The level of water hardness will vary based on your water supply.
    — Brittany Vanderbill, Better Homes & Gardens, 26 Nov. 2024
  • There is a measure of hardness called Janka to rank hardwood.
    — Nafeesah Allen, Better Homes & Gardens, 13 May 2022
  • The hardness of water is measured in grains, with one grain equal to one seven-thousandth of a pound.
    — Tim Carter, Orange County Register, 3 Jan. 2017
  • The field crew tests the pitch daily for hardness, traction and moisture levels.
    — Tim Newcomb, Forbes.com, 13 June 2026
  • Or maybe some of them are hard, but their hardness isn’t of a kind that lends itself to secure encryption.
    — Quanta Magazine, 18 Apr. 2022
  • Torlef Borsting doesn’t downplay the Count’s hardness of heart.
    — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 2 Nov. 2019
  • The food processor is not suitable for grinding a blend of spices of varying hardness and size.
    — Mayukh Sen, The New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2021
  • Ginn’s hands rank just below topaz on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, but the dude can flat-out fly.
    — Pat Fitzmaurice, SI.com, 2 Aug. 2017
  • Dinges then exposed the soft aluminum to a series of heat and acid treatments that achieved a hardness three times that of steel.
    — Scott Suchman, Popular Mechanics, 29 Apr. 2021
  • The embryonic stem cells of frogs migrate to create the hardness of frog faces.
    — Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper’s Magazine , 16 Mar. 2022
  • The hardness comes from a buildup of visceral fat—the kind of fat that builds up on your internal organs.
    — Sarah Fielding, Men's Health, 31 Mar. 2023
  • And while porcelain seems fragile, its hardness is also rated around a 7.
    — Barbara Bellesi Zito, Southern Living, 2 Jan. 2026
  • The hardness of seats, even those that recline flat into a bed, is a common pain point for many customers on long-haul flights.
    — Eileen Falkenberg-Hull, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 May 2025
  • But a certain hardness of touch — and thus tone — was evident, even in some quieter passages.
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 27 June 2021
  • Many of these also have features like a timer or hardness settings, like our pick from Breville.
    — Brigitt Earley, Good Housekeeping, 16 June 2022
  • The trail into the cave, which in the past was snowshoe or skis only, is now packed into concrete-like hardness.
    — John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 2 Apr. 2022
  • There are just too many variables here to consider in terms of wood hardness, access to the cut, and the person’s strength.
    — Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, 17 July 2023
  • The hardness enables the blades to be sharpened at a much steeper angle than Western knives.
    — Akiko Katayama, Forbes.com, 13 June 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hardness.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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