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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 WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
severely
adverb
1: to a severe or serious degree; "fingers so badly frozen they had to be amputated"; "badly injured"; "a severely impaired heart"; "is gravely ill"; "was seriously ill" [syn: {badly}, {gravely}, {seriously}]
2: with sternness; in a severe manner; "'No,' she said sternly"; "peered severely over her glasses" [syn: {sternly}]
3: causing great damage or hardship; "industries hit hard by the depression"; "she was severely affected by the bank's failure" [syn: {hard}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
48 Moby Thesaurus words for "severely": acutely, ascetically, austerely, awfully, badly, barely, brutally, coldly, coolly, critically, crudely, cruelly, dangerously, dourly, dreadfully, entirely, fatally, forbiddingly, fully, gloweringly, gravely, grievously, grimly, harshly, inhumanly, mercilessly, modestly, mortally, onerously, painfully, permanently, plainly, primitively, punitively, relentlessly, rigorously, savagely, seriously, simply, soberly, sparely, sparsely, starkly, sternly, strictly, stringently, terminally, tyrannically
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |