'Severe' definitions:
Definition of 'severe'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or quality; "severe pain"; "a severe case of flu"; "a terrible cough"; "under wicked fire from the enemy's guns"; "a wicked cough" [syn: severe, terrible, wicked]
adjective
Very strong or vigorous; "strong winds"; "a hard left to the chin"; "a knockout punch"; "a severe blow" [syn: hard, knockout, severe]
adjective
adjective
Unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or judgment; "a parent severe to the pitch of hostility"- H.G.Wells; "a hefty six-footer with a rather severe mien"; "a strict disciplinarian"; "a Spartan upbringing" [syn: severe, spartan]
adjective
Causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm; "a dangerous operation"; "a grave situation"; "a grave illness"; "grievous bodily harm"; "a serious wound"; "a serious turn of events"; "a severe case of pneumonia"; "a life-threatening disease" [syn: dangerous, grave, grievous, serious, severe, life-threatening]
adjective
Very bad in degree or extent; "a severe worldwide depression"; "the house suffered severe damage"
Definition of 'Severe'
From: GCIDE
- Severe \Se*vere"\, a. [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. [1913 Webster]
- Your looks alter, as your subject does, From kind to fierce, from wanton to severe. --Waller. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Very strict in judgment, discipline, or government; harsh; not mild or indulgent; rigorous; as, severe criticism; severe punishment. "Custody severe." --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- Come! you are too severe a moraler. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Let your zeal, if it must be expressed in anger, be always more severe against thyself than against others. --Jer. Taylor. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- The Latin, a most severe and compendious language. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Sharp; afflictive; distressing; violent; extreme; as, severe pain, anguish, fortune; severe cold. [1913 Webster]
- 5. Difficult to be endured; exact; critical; rigorous; as, a severe test. [1913 Webster]
- Syn: Strict; grave; austere; stern; morose; rigid; exact; rigorous; hard; rough; harsh; censorious; tart; acrimonious; sarcastic; satirical; cutting; biting; keen; bitter; cruel. See Strict. [1913 Webster] -- {Se*vere"ly}, adv. -- {Se*vere"ness}, n. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'severe'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abrupt,
- absolute,
- absolutist,
- absolutistic,
- abstruse,
- acerbic,
- acid,
- acidulous,
- acrid,
- acrimonious,
- acute,
- afflictive,
- aggressive,
- agonizing,
- algid,
- aloof,
- arbitrary,
- arctic,
- arduous,
- aristocratic,
- arrogant,
- ascetic,
- asperous,
- astringent,
- atrocious,
- austere,
- authoritarian,
- authoritative,
- autocratic,
- awful,
- badly,
- bald,
- bare,
- basic,
- bearish,
- beastly,
- below zero,
- biting,
- bitter,
- bitterly cold,
- bleak,
- blistering,
- bluff,
- blunt,
- blustering,
- blustery,
- boreal,
- bossy,
- brash,
- brisk,
- brumal,
- brusque,
- brutal,
- burdensome,
- candid,
- caustic,
- cavalier,
- chaste,
- churlish,
- close,
- cold,
- cold as charity,
- cold as death,
- cold as ice,
- cold as marble,
- common,
- commonplace,
- complex,
- constant,
- cramping,
- crimpy,
- crisp,
- critical,
- crude,
- cruel,
- crusty,
- curt,
- cutting,
- dangerous,
- delicate,
- demanding,
- despotic,
- dictatorial,
- difficile,
- difficult,
- dire,
- direct,
- disagreeable,
- disciplined,
- distressing,
- domineering,
- double-edged,
- dour,
- Draconian,
- drastic,
- dreadful,
- dry,
- dull,
- edged,
- effortful,
- elementary,
- escharotic,
- essential,
- even,
- exact,
- exacting,
- excessive,
- excruciating,
- exigent,
- exorbitant,
- express,
- extravagant,
- extreme,
- faithful,
- fastidious,
- fatal,
- feudal,
- fierce,
- fine,
- flinty,
- forbidding,
- formidable,
- frank,
- freezing,
- freezing cold,
- frigid,
- fundamental,
- furious,
- gelid,
- glacial,
- glowering,
- gnawing,
- grave,
- gravely,
- great,
- grievous,
- grim,
- grinding,
- griping,
- gruff,
- hairy,
- hard,
- hard-earned,
- hard-fought,
- hardly,
- harrowing,
- harsh,
- harshly,
- heavy,
- heavy-handed,
- Herculean,
- hibernal,
- hiemal,
- high-handed,
- homely,
- homespun,
- homogeneous,
- hostile,
- hurtful,
- hurting,
- hyperborean,
- ice-cold,
- ice-encrusted,
- icelike,
- icy,
- immoderate,
- imperative,
- imperial,
- imperious,
- incisive,
- inclement,
- indivisible,
- inerrable,
- inerrant,
- inexorable,
- infallible,
- inflexible,
- inhospitable,
- inhuman,
- inornate,
- intemperate,
- intense,
- intensely,
- intricate,
- iron-willed,
- irreducible,
- irritating,
- jawbreaking,
- keen,
- knotted,
- knotty,
- laborious,
- lean,
- lordly,
- magisterial,
- magistral,
- markedly,
- masterful,
- mathematical,
- matter-of-fact,
- mean,
- merciless,
- mere,
- meticulous,
- micrometrically precise,
- microscopic,
- modest,
- monastic,
- monocratic,
- monolithic,
- mordacious,
- mordant,
- mortal,
- mortified,
- natural,
- neat,
- nice,
- nipping,
- nippy,
- no picnic,
- nose-tickling,
- not easy,
- numbing,
- obdurate,
- of a piece,
- onerous,
- open,
- operose,
- oppressive,
- outrageous,
- overbearing,
- overruling,
- painful,
- painfully,
- painstaking,
- paroxysmal,
- penetrating,
- peremptory,
- piercing,
- pinching,
- pinpoint,
- piquant,
- pitiless,
- plain,
- plain-speaking,
- plain-spoken,
- poignant,
- precise,
- primal,
- primary,
- primitive,
- prosaic,
- prosing,
- prosy,
- pungent,
- punishing,
- punitive,
- pure,
- pure and simple,
- racking,
- raw,
- refined,
- relentless,
- religious,
- religiously exact,
- repressive,
- restrictive,
- rigid,
- rigorous,
- rigorously,
- rough,
- roughly,
- rugged,
- rustic,
- ruthless,
- savage,
- scathing,
- scientific,
- scientifically exact,
- self-disciplined,
- serious,
- set with thorns,
- severe,
- severely,
- sharp,
- shooting,
- short,
- Siberian,
- simon-pure,
- simple,
- simple-speaking,
- single,
- sleety,
- slushy,
- smart,
- snappy,
- snippy,
- sober,
- sore,
- sour,
- spare,
- sparse,
- Spartan,
- Spartanic,
- spasmatic,
- spasmic,
- spasmodic,
- spiny,
- splitting,
- square,
- stabbing,
- stark,
- steep,
- stern,
- stiff,
- stinging,
- stone-cold,
- stony,
- stormy,
- straightforward,
- strait-laced,
- strenuous,
- strict,
- strident,
- stringent,
- subtle,
- subzero,
- supercooled,
- suppressive,
- surly,
- tart,
- taxing,
- terminal,
- thorny,
- ticklish,
- toilsome,
- tormenting,
- torturous,
- tough,
- trenchant,
- tricky,
- truculent,
- turbulent,
- tyrannical,
- tyrannous,
- unadorned,
- unaffected,
- unbending,
- uncluttered,
- uncompromising,
- unconscionable,
- undecorated,
- undeviating,
- undifferenced,
- undifferentiated,
- unelaborate,
- unembellished,
- unerring,
- unfancy,
- unfeeling,
- unfussy,
- ungentle,
- uniform,
- unimaginative,
- unornate,
- unpleasant,
- unpoetical,
- unsmiling,
- unsparing,
- unsympathetic,
- unvarnished,
- unyielding,
- uphill,
- vehement,
- venomous,
- violent,
- virulent,
- vitriolic,
- weighty,
- wicked,
- winterbound,
- winterlike,
- wintery,
- wintry
Words containing 'Severe'
- In several,
- Sever,
- Severable,
- Several,
- Severalities,
- Severality,
- Severalize,
- Severally,
- Severance,
- Severed,
- Severely,
- Severeness,
- Severer,
- Severing,
- Severities,
- Severity,
- Joint and several,
- Severance, CO,
- Severance, KS,
- severable contract,
- severance agreement,
- several-seeded,
- severe combined immunodeficiency,
- severe acute respiratory syndrome,
- severe combined immunodeficiency disease