asperity, sharpness
(noun) harshness of manner
asperity, grimness, hardship, rigor, rigour, severity, severeness, rigorousness, rigourousness
(noun) something hard to endure; “the asperity of northern winters”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
asperity (countable and uncountable, plural asperities)
Roughness as of stone or weather.
Harshness, as of temper.
Something that is harsh and difficult to endure.
(geology) A part of a geological fault line that does not move.
Source: Wiktionary
As*per"i*ty, n.; pl. Asperities. Etym: [L. asperitas, fr. asper rough: cf. F. aspérité.]
1. Roughness of surface; unevenness; -- opposed to smoothness. "The asperities of dry bodies." Boyle.
2. Roughness or harshness of sound; that quality which grates upon the ear; raucity.
3. Roughness to the taste; sourness; tartness.
4. Moral roughness; roughness of manner; severity; crabbedness; harshness; -- opposed to mildness. "Asperity of character." Landor. It is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received. Johnson.
5. Sharpness; disagreeableness; difficulty. The acclivities and asperities of duty. Barrow.
Syn.
– Acrimony; moroseness; crabbedness; harshness; sourness; tartness. See Acrimony.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
7 May 2024
(noun) bellflower of Europe and Asia and North Africa having bluish flowers and an edible tuberous root used with the leaves in salad
The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.
