severity, severeness, harshness, rigor, rigour, rigorousness, rigourousness, inclemency, hardness, stiffness
(noun) excessive sternness; “severity of character”; “the harshness of his punishment was inhuman”; “the rigors of boot camp”
austereness, severity, severeness
(noun) extreme plainness
asperity, grimness, hardship, rigor, rigour, severity, severeness, rigorousness, rigourousness
(noun) something hard to endure; “the asperity of northern winters”
badness, severity, severeness
(noun) used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather
Source: WordNet® 3.1
severity (countable and uncountable, plural severities)
The state of being severe.
The degree of something undesirable; badness or seriousness.
Source: Wiktionary
Se*ver"i*ty, n.; pl. Severities. Etym: [L. severitas: cf. F. sévérité.]
Definition: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
19 April 2025
(verb) grasp with the mind or develop an understanding of; “did you catch that allusion?”; “We caught something of his theory in the lecture”; “don’t catch your meaning”; “did you get it?”; “She didn’t get the joke”; “I just don’t get him”
The world’s most expensive coffee costs more than US$700 per kilogram. Asian palm civet – a cat-like creature in Indonesia, eats fruits, including select coffee cherries. It excretes partially digested seeds that produce a smooth, less acidic brew of coffee called kopi luwak.
