hard-hearted

hard-hearted — adjective

1. A hard-hearted person shows no concern for other people's suffering and does not

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

A hard-hearted person shows no concern for other people's suffering and does not feel moved by their difficulties.

Example

The landlord was hard-hearted and ignored the tenants' complaints about the broken heating.

predicative: be + hard-hearted (of a person in power)

Even after hearing the children's story of losing their home, the official remained hard-hearted and gave no help.

pattern: remain + hard-hearted after [emotional appeal]

Common collocations
  • hard-hearted landlord / boss / official / parent / judge
  • hard-hearted attitude / policy / decision / response / remark
  • remain hard-hearted
  • see [someone] as hard-hearted
  • call / describe [something] as hard-hearted
Synonyms
  • unfeeling

    more clinical and neutral; suggests emotional numbness rather than deliberate cruelty

  • cold-hearted

    similar in intensity, emphasises cold emotional distance

  • heartless

    stronger and more critical; suggests active indifference to suffering

  • pitiless

    focuses on refusal to show mercy when it is expected

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

be + hard-hearted

a hard-hearted + noun

Usage Note

Frequently used to criticize someone in a position of power (landlord, boss, official, parent) who remains unmoved by another person's hardship. Can be used both before a noun (a hard-hearted decision) and after a linking verb (the judge was hard-hearted).

Common Mistakes

He is hard to feel sympathy for others.
He is hard-hearted and shows no sympathy for others.
'hard-hearted' is a fixed compound adjective; 'hard to' has a completely different meaning ('difficult to').

Word family

  • hard-heartedness
    nounC1
  • hardheartedly
    adverbC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe someone who does not show sympathy or care for others, but they differ in intensity and focus. Unfeeling is the most neutral of the group and emphasises a simple lack of emotional response — the person is not actively cruel, just emotionally blank. Cold-hearted highlights a deliberate emotional distance, as though the person has chilled their feelings to avoid engagement. Heartless is stronger and more accusing; it suggests an active disregard for others' pain, almost as if the person lacks a heart altogether. Pitiless zeroes in on the refusal to show mercy when mercy would be the natural response. For example, a hard-hearted landlord might raise rent without concern for the tenants, but a heartless landlord would also exploit their hardship for profit. A pitiless judge would hand down the harshest sentence without a moment of thoughtful consideration.

unfeeling ↗cold-hearted ↗heartless ↗pitiless

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • remain hard-hearted
  • see someone as hard-hearted
  • call something hard-hearted

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Hard-hearted is a compound of 'hard' (from Old English 'heard', meaning firm, tough, or unyielding) and 'hearted' (having a heart of a specified kind). The compound appeared in Middle English around the 1300s, describing a person whose heart has been hardened so that it no longer softens toward the suffering of others.