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severitymore about severity

severity

 

  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Severity  \Se*ver"i*ty\,  n.;  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  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  severity 
  n  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;  "the  severity  of  his  punishment  was 
  inhuman"  [syn:  {harshness},  {inclemency},  {hardness},  {stiffness}]




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