hardness

Noun

• excessive sternness
  • severity of character
    
  • the harshness of his punishment was inhuman
    
  • the rigors of boot camp
    

• the quality of being difficult to do
  • he assigned a series of problems of increasing hardness
    
  • the ruggedness of his exams caused half the class to fail
    

• devoid of passion or feeling; hardheartedness

• a quality of water that contains dissolved mineral salts that prevent soap from lathering
  • the costs of reducing hardness depend on the relative amounts of calcium and magnesium compounds that are present
    

• the property of being rigid and resistant to pressure; not easily scratched; measured on Mohs scale

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  ruggedness , unfeelingness , callousness , callosity , insensibility