 3 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
severe
adjective
1: intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or
quality; "severe pain"; "a severe case of flu"; "a
terrible cough"; "under wicked fire from the enemy's
guns"; "a wicked cough" [syn: {terrible}, {wicked}]
2: very strong or vigorous; "strong winds"; "a hard left to the
chin"; "a knockout punch"; "a severe blow" [syn: {hard}, {knockout}]
3: severely simple; "a stark interior" [syn: {austere}, {stark}]
4: unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or judgment; "a
parent severe to the pitch of hostility"- H.G.Wells; "a
hefty six-footer with a rather severe mien"; "a strict
disciplinarian"; "a Spartan upbringing" [syn: {spartan}, {strict}]
5: causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm; "a
dangerous operation"; "a grave situation"; "a grave
illness"; "grievous bodily harm"; "a serious wound"; "a
serious turn of events"; "a severe case of pneumonia"; "a
life-threatening disease" [syn: {dangerous}, {grave}, {grievous},
{serious}, {life-threatening}]
6: very bad in degree or extent; "a severe worldwide
depression"; "the house suffered severe damage"
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Severe \Se*vere"\, adjective [Compar. {Severer}; superl. {Severest}.]
[L. severus; perhaps akin to Gr. ??? awe, ??? revered, holy,
solemn, Goth. swikns innocent, chaste: cf. F. s['e]v['e]re.
Cf. {Asseverate}, {Persevere}.]
1. Serious in feeling or manner; sedate; grave; austere; not
light, lively, or cheerful.
Your looks alter, as your subject does,
From kind to fierce, from wanton to severe.
--Waller.
2. Very strict in judgment, discipline, or government; harsh;
not mild or indulgent; rigorous; as, severe criticism;
severe punishment. ''Custody severe.'' --Milton.
Come! you are too severe a moraler. --Shak.
Let your zeal, if it must be expressed in anger, be
always more severe against thyself than against
others. --Jer. Taylor.
3. Rigidly methodical, or adherent to rule or principle;
exactly conformed to a standard; not allowing or employing
unneccessary ornament, amplification, etc.; strict; --
said of style, argument, etc. ''Restrained by reason and
severe principles.'' --Jer. Taylor.
The Latin, a most severe and compendious language.
--Dryden.
4. Sharp; afflictive; distressing; violent; extreme; as,
severe pain, anguish, fortune; severe cold.
5. Difficult to be endured; exact; critical; rigorous; as, a
severe test.
Syn: Strict; grave; austere; stern; morose; rigid; exact;
rigorous; hard; rough; harsh; censorious; tart;
acrimonious; sarcastic; satirical; cutting; biting;
keen; bitter; cruel. See {Strict}.
-- {Se*vere"ly}, adverb -- {Se*vere"ness},
n.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
384 Moby Thesaurus words for "severe":
Draconian, Herculean, Siberian, Spartan, Spartanic, abrupt,
absolute, absolutist, absolutistic, abstruse, acerbic, acid,
acidulous, acrid, acrimonious, acute, afflictive, aggressive,
agonizing, algid, aloof, arbitrary, arctic, arduous, aristocratic,
arrogant, ascetic, asperous, astringent, atrocious, austere,
authoritarian, authoritative, autocratic, awful, badly, bald, bare,
basic, bearish, beastly, below zero, biting, bitter, bitterly cold,
bleak, blistering, bluff, blunt, blustering, blustery, boreal,
bossy, brash, brisk, brumal, brusque, brutal, burdensome, candid,
caustic, cavalier, chaste, churlish, close, cold, cold as charity,
cold as death, cold as ice, cold as marble, common, commonplace,
complex, constant, cramping, crimpy, crisp, critical, crude, cruel,
crusty, curt, cutting, dangerous, delicate, demanding, despotic,
dictatorial, difficile, difficult, dire, direct, disagreeable,
disciplined, distressing, domineering, double-edged, dour, drastic,
dreadful, dry, dull, edged, effortful, elementary, escharotic,
essential, even, exact, exacting, excessive, excruciating, exigent,
exorbitant, express, extravagant, extreme, faithful, fastidious,
fatal, feudal, fierce, fine, flinty, forbidding, formidable, frank,
freezing, freezing cold, frigid, fundamental, furious, gelid,
glacial, glowering, gnawing, grave, gravely, great, grievous, grim,
grinding, griping, gruff, hairy, hard, hard-earned, hard-fought,
hardly, harrowing, harsh, harshly, heavy, heavy-handed, hibernal,
hiemal, high-handed, homely, homespun, homogeneous, hostile,
hurtful, hurting, hyperborean, ice-cold, ice-encrusted, icelike,
icy, immoderate, imperative, imperial, imperious, incisive,
inclement, indivisible, inerrable, inerrant, inexorable,
infallible, inflexible, inhospitable, inhuman, inornate,
intemperate, intense, intensely, intricate, iron-willed,
irreducible, irritating, jawbreaking, keen, knotted, knotty,
laborious, lean, lordly, magisterial, magistral, markedly,
masterful, mathematical, matter-of-fact, mean, merciless, mere,
meticulous, micrometrically precise, microscopic, modest, monastic,
monocratic, monolithic, mordacious, mordant, mortal, mortified,
natural, neat, nice, nipping, nippy, no picnic, nose-tickling,
not easy, numbing, obdurate, of a piece, onerous, open, operose,
oppressive, outrageous, overbearing, overruling, painful,
painfully, painstaking, paroxysmal, penetrating, peremptory,
piercing, pinching, pinpoint, piquant, pitiless, plain,
plain-speaking, plain-spoken, poignant, precise, primal, primary,
primitive, prosaic, prosing, prosy, pungent, punishing, punitive,
pure, pure and simple, racking, raw, refined, relentless,
religious, religiously exact, repressive, restrictive, rigid,
rigorous, rigorously, rough, roughly, rugged, rustic, ruthless,
savage, scathing, scientific, scientifically exact,
self-disciplined, serious, set with thorns, severe, severely,
sharp, shooting, short, simon-pure, simple, simple-speaking,
single, sleety, slushy, smart, snappy, snippy, sober, sore, sour,
spare, sparse, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic, spiny, splitting,
square, stabbing, stark, steep, stern, stiff, stinging, stone-cold,
stony, stormy, straightforward, strait-laced, strenuous, strict,
strident, stringent, subtle, subzero, supercooled, suppressive,
surly, tart, taxing, terminal, thorny, ticklish, toilsome,
tormenting, torturous, tough, trenchant, tricky, truculent,
turbulent, tyrannical, tyrannous, unadorned, unaffected, unbending,
uncluttered, uncompromising, unconscionable, undecorated,
undeviating, undifferenced, undifferentiated, unelaborate,
unembellished, unerring, unfancy, unfeeling, unfussy, ungentle,
uniform, unimaginative, unornate, unpleasant, unpoetical,
unsmiling, unsparing, unsympathetic, unvarnished, unyielding,
uphill, vehement, venomous, violent, virulent, vitriolic, weighty,
wicked, winterbound, winterlike, wintery, wintry
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