anneal vs harden

anneal and harden both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
anneal	No	No	Yes	No
harden	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, harden is a hypernym of anneal; that is, harden is a word with a broader meaning than anneal:

anneal: bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling
harden: make hard or harder

Other hypernyms of anneal include indurate.

anneal (verb)	harden (verb)
bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling	become hard or harder
	make hard or harder
	make healthy
	cause to accept or become hardened to; habituate
	harden by reheating and cooling in oil