 3 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
severity
noun
1: used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or
weather [syn: {badness}]
2: something hard to endure; "the asperity of northern winters"
[syn: {asperity}, {grimness}, {hardship}, {rigor}, {rigour},
{rigorousness}]
3: excessive sternness; "severity of character"; "the harshness
of his punishment was inhuman"; "the rigors of boot camp"
[syn: {harshness}, {rigor}, {rigour}, {inclemency}, {hardness},
{stiffness}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Severity \Se*ver"i*ty\, noun; pl. {Severities}. [L. severitas: cf.
F. s['e]v['e]rit['e].]
The quality or state of being severe. Specifically:
(a) Gravity or austerity; extreme strictness; rigor;
harshness; as, the severity of a reprimand or a reproof;
severity of discipline or government; severity of
penalties. ''Strict age, and sour severity.'' --Milton.
(b) The quality or power of distressing or paining; extreme
degree; extremity; intensity; inclemency; as, the
severity of pain or anguish; the severity of cold or
heat; the severity of the winter.
(c) Harshness; cruel treatment; sharpness of punishment; as,
severity practiced on prisoners of war.
(d) Exactness; rigorousness; strictness; as, the severity of
a test.
Confining myself to the severity of truth.
--Dryden.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
240 Moby Thesaurus words for "severity":
Spartan simplicity, Spartanism, abruptness, absolute zero,
absoluteness, abusiveness, accuracy, acerbity, acidity,
acidulousness, acridity, acrimony, acuteness, aggressiveness,
algidity, aloofness, animality, asceticism, asperity, astringency,
atrocity, attention to fact, austerity, authoritarianism, baldness,
barbarity, bareness, bearishness, beastliness, bite, bitingness,
bitterness, bleakness, bloodlust, bluntness, boorishness,
brashness, briskness, brusqueness, brusquerie, brutality,
burdensomeness, candor, care for truth, causticity, chill,
chilliness, churlishness, cold, coldness, common speech, cool,
coolness, coolth, correctness, crispness, crudeness, cruelty,
crustiness, cryogenics, cryology, curtness, cuttingness,
decrease in temperature, delicacy, demandingness, despotism,
destructiveness, directness, discipline, edge, elementarity,
exactingness, exactitude, exactness, exigency, extremity,
faithfulness, fastidiousness, faultlessness, ferociousness,
ferocity, fidelity, fierceness, fineness, flawlessness, flintiness,
force, frankness, freezing point, freshness, frigidity, frostiness,
fundamentality, furiousness, fury, gelidity, gravity, grievousness,
grimness, grip, gruffness, hardness, harshness, homespun,
homogeneity, household words, iciness, impetuosity, inclemency,
inexorability, inexorableness, inflexibility, inhumanity,
inornateness, integrity, intense cold, intensity, keenness,
leanness, literalism, literality, literalness, low temperature,
malignity, mathematical precision, matter-of-factness, meanness,
mercilessness, meticulousness, mindlessness, modesty, monasticism,
monism, mordacity, mordancy, murderousness, nastiness, naturalness,
niceness, nicety, nip, nippiness, obduracy, obdurateness, oneness,
onerousness, openness, oppression, oppressiveness, painfulness,
perfection, piquancy, pitilessness, plain English, plain speaking,
plain speech, plain style, plain words, plainness, poignancy,
point, preciseness, precision, primitiveness, prosaicness,
prosiness, pungency, punishment, punitiveness, purity, rawness,
refinement, regimentation, relentlessness, restrainedness, right,
rightness, rigid discipline, rigidity, rigor, rigorousness,
roughness, ruggedness, rustic style, ruthlessness, savagery,
seriousness, sharp air, sharpness, shortness, simpleness,
simplicity, singleness, soberness, solemnity, sourness, spareness,
sparseness, starkness, sternness, sting, storminess,
straightforwardness, strictness, stridency, stringency, subtlety,
surliness, tartness, teeth, tempestuousness, terrorism, textualism,
the letter, toughness, trenchancy, truculence, tyranny,
unadorned style, unadornedness, unadulteration, unaffectedness,
unelaborateness, unfanciness, unfussiness, ungentleness,
uniformity, unimaginativeness, unity, unmixedness, unpoeticalness,
unsophistication, vandalism, vehemence, venom, vernacular,
viciousness, violence, virulence
|
