"hard mode" meaning in English

See hard mode in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: hard modes [plural], hardmode [alternative]
Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} hard mode (countable and uncountable, plural hard modes)
  1. (video games) A game mode with a higher difficulty than the standard gameplay. Tags: countable, uncountable Categories (topical): Video games
    Sense id: en-hard_mode-en-noun-OtuoLBjv Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 97 3 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 95 5 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 95 5 Topics: video-games
  2. (figurative)
    Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hard, mode.
    Tags: countable, figuratively, uncountable
    Sense id: en-hard_mode-en-noun-nHDVd7Ep

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "hard modes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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    },
    {
      "form": "hardmode",
      "tags": [
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Video games",
          "orig": "en:Video games",
          "parents": [
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            "Mass media",
            "Software",
            "Recreation",
            "Culture",
            "Media",
            "Computing",
            "Human activity",
            "Society",
            "Communication",
            "Technology",
            "Human behaviour",
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            "Human",
            "Fundamental"
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          "source": "w"
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          "_dis": "97 3",
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "95 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2008 April, “Dark Mist”, in Edge, Bath, Somerset: Future Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 96, column 4:",
          "text": "Even then, once the main game is cleared – it has to be clocked in one play session, but it’s far from lengthy – hard mode is unlocked (plus a pair of affable bonus modes) which doesn’t just up the difficulty, but completely rewrites the dungeon structures and enemy patterns.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Rafael Bidarra, Dien Gambon, Rob Kooij, Dylan Nagel, Maaike Schutjes, Ioanna Tziouvara, “Gaming at the dentist’s – serious game design for pain and discomfort distraction”, in Ben Schouten, Stephen Fedtke, Tilde Bekker, Marlies Schijven, Alex Gekker, editors, Games for Health: Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Gaming and Playful Interaction in Health Care, Wiesbaden, Hesse: Springer Vieweg, →ISBN, “Games for Care, Cure and Medicine Adherence” section, page 211:",
          "text": "Currently, to increase accessibility as well as replayability of the game, we added two difficulty levels. On easy mode, most players should have little trouble reaching the end of a level. On hard mode, extra obstacles offer bigger challenges.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, “Defending Your Home”, in How to Do Everything in Minecraft – 100% Unofficial & Independent, London: MagBook, Dennis Publishing, page 55, column 3:",
          "text": "If you’re playing on hard mode, be warned that zombies can break down wooden doors.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022, Ian Schreiber, Brenda Romero, “Balancing for Character Progression”, in Game Balance, Boca Raton, Fla.; Abingdon, Oxfordshire: CRC Press, →ISBN, part I (Game Balance), chapter 9 (Characters and Character Builds), page 203:",
          "text": "More commonly, to support all player skill levels, games ship with multiple difficulty levels: an easy mode that’s tuned to provide very little resistance for players who want to focus on the story, a normal mode that’s tuned for most typical builds, a hard mode that’s challenging for a typical build, and a hardest mode tuned to be a challenge even to optimal builds, for example.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A game mode with a higher difficulty than the standard gameplay."
      ],
      "id": "en-hard_mode-en-noun-OtuoLBjv",
      "links": [
        [
          "video game",
          "video game"
        ],
        [
          "game mode",
          "game mode"
        ],
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          "difficulty",
          "difficulty"
        ],
        [
          "gameplay",
          "gameplay"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(video games) A game mode with a higher difficulty than the standard gameplay."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "video-games"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2018 March, Okina Baba, translated by Jenny McKeon, So I’m a Spider, So What?, volume 2, New York, N.Y.: Yen Press, →ISBN, back cover:",
          "text": "But just when I thought I’d gotten the hang of things, a snake chased me into a deeper level of the labyrinth! Everything’s on hard mode down here.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019, Rachel Neff, “Is It a Dragon or a Windmill?”, in Chasing Chickens: When Life after Higher Education Doesn’t Go the Way You Planned, Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, →ISBN, page 74:",
          "text": "I moved across the country twice the year I finished my dissertation because I like to live on hard mode, apparently.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022, Caroline Brookfield, “N. is for Novelty”, in The Reluctant Creative: 5 Effortless Habits to Expand Your Comfort Zone, Artful Science, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Easy mode: draw the recipe you found. Hard mode: Make the recipe and write about the experience making it.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1785, [Georges-Louis Leclerc,] Count de Buffon, translated by William Smellie, “Of the Varieties of the Human Species”, in Natural History, General and Particular, […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 63:",
          "text": "Notwithſtanding this melancholy and hard mode of living, they are ſeldom or ever ſick, and all arrive at extreme old age.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, William H. A. Johnson, “How Hard Can It Be to Communicate? Communication Mode and Performance in Collaborative R&D Projects”, in Susan H[ayes] Godar, Sharmila Pixy Ferris, editors, Virtual and Collaborative Teams: Process, Technologies and Practice, Hershey, Pa.: Idea Group Publishing, →ISBN, section III (Communication in Virtual Teams), page 176:",
          "text": "A hard mode in the form of a written document is often referred to as a “hard copy.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Willa Miller, “Day Six: The Five Steps of Giving”, in Everyday Dharma: Seven Weeks to Finding the Buddha in You, Wheaton, Ill.: Quest Books, →ISBN, “Week Five: Be Magnanimous” section, page 189:",
          "text": "Since you are working on a target mode of giving—an unfamiliar or a hard mode—you will find this formula especially useful.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hard, mode."
      ],
      "id": "en-hard_mode-en-noun-nHDVd7Ep",
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          "hard",
          "hard#English"
        ],
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          "mode",
          "mode#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative)",
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hard, mode."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "figuratively",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "hard mode"
}
{
  "categories": [
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "hard modes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "hardmode",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Video games"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2008 April, “Dark Mist”, in Edge, Bath, Somerset: Future Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 96, column 4:",
          "text": "Even then, once the main game is cleared – it has to be clocked in one play session, but it’s far from lengthy – hard mode is unlocked (plus a pair of affable bonus modes) which doesn’t just up the difficulty, but completely rewrites the dungeon structures and enemy patterns.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Rafael Bidarra, Dien Gambon, Rob Kooij, Dylan Nagel, Maaike Schutjes, Ioanna Tziouvara, “Gaming at the dentist’s – serious game design for pain and discomfort distraction”, in Ben Schouten, Stephen Fedtke, Tilde Bekker, Marlies Schijven, Alex Gekker, editors, Games for Health: Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Gaming and Playful Interaction in Health Care, Wiesbaden, Hesse: Springer Vieweg, →ISBN, “Games for Care, Cure and Medicine Adherence” section, page 211:",
          "text": "Currently, to increase accessibility as well as replayability of the game, we added two difficulty levels. On easy mode, most players should have little trouble reaching the end of a level. On hard mode, extra obstacles offer bigger challenges.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, “Defending Your Home”, in How to Do Everything in Minecraft – 100% Unofficial & Independent, London: MagBook, Dennis Publishing, page 55, column 3:",
          "text": "If you’re playing on hard mode, be warned that zombies can break down wooden doors.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022, Ian Schreiber, Brenda Romero, “Balancing for Character Progression”, in Game Balance, Boca Raton, Fla.; Abingdon, Oxfordshire: CRC Press, →ISBN, part I (Game Balance), chapter 9 (Characters and Character Builds), page 203:",
          "text": "More commonly, to support all player skill levels, games ship with multiple difficulty levels: an easy mode that’s tuned to provide very little resistance for players who want to focus on the story, a normal mode that’s tuned for most typical builds, a hard mode that’s challenging for a typical build, and a hardest mode tuned to be a challenge even to optimal builds, for example.",
          "type": "quote"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A game mode with a higher difficulty than the standard gameplay."
      ],
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          "video game"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(video games) A game mode with a higher difficulty than the standard gameplay."
      ],
      "tags": [
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        "video-games"
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        {
          "ref": "2018 March, Okina Baba, translated by Jenny McKeon, So I’m a Spider, So What?, volume 2, New York, N.Y.: Yen Press, →ISBN, back cover:",
          "text": "But just when I thought I’d gotten the hang of things, a snake chased me into a deeper level of the labyrinth! Everything’s on hard mode down here.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019, Rachel Neff, “Is It a Dragon or a Windmill?”, in Chasing Chickens: When Life after Higher Education Doesn’t Go the Way You Planned, Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, →ISBN, page 74:",
          "text": "I moved across the country twice the year I finished my dissertation because I like to live on hard mode, apparently.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022, Caroline Brookfield, “N. is for Novelty”, in The Reluctant Creative: 5 Effortless Habits to Expand Your Comfort Zone, Artful Science, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Easy mode: draw the recipe you found. Hard mode: Make the recipe and write about the experience making it.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1785, [Georges-Louis Leclerc,] Count de Buffon, translated by William Smellie, “Of the Varieties of the Human Species”, in Natural History, General and Particular, […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 63:",
          "text": "Notwithſtanding this melancholy and hard mode of living, they are ſeldom or ever ſick, and all arrive at extreme old age.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, William H. A. Johnson, “How Hard Can It Be to Communicate? Communication Mode and Performance in Collaborative R&D Projects”, in Susan H[ayes] Godar, Sharmila Pixy Ferris, editors, Virtual and Collaborative Teams: Process, Technologies and Practice, Hershey, Pa.: Idea Group Publishing, →ISBN, section III (Communication in Virtual Teams), page 176:",
          "text": "A hard mode in the form of a written document is often referred to as a “hard copy.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Willa Miller, “Day Six: The Five Steps of Giving”, in Everyday Dharma: Seven Weeks to Finding the Buddha in You, Wheaton, Ill.: Quest Books, →ISBN, “Week Five: Be Magnanimous” section, page 189:",
          "text": "Since you are working on a target mode of giving—an unfamiliar or a hard mode—you will find this formula especially useful.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hard, mode."
      ],
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          "hard",
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          "mode",
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative)",
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hard, mode."
      ],
      "tags": [
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      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "hard mode"
}

Download raw JSONL data for hard mode meaning in English (5.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-02 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (db8a5a5 and fb63907). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.