severity : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: severity	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for severity
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
severity n used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather Synonym(s): badness, severity, severeness something hard to endure; "the asperity of northern winters" Synonym(s): asperity, grimness, hardship, rigor, rigour, severity, severeness, rigorousness, rigourousness extreme plainness Synonym(s): austereness, severity, severeness excessive sternness; "severity of character"; "the harshness of his punishment was inhuman"; "the rigors of boot camp" Synonym(s): severity, severeness, harshness, rigor, rigour, rigorousness, rigourousness, inclemency, hardness, stiffness
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Severity \Sever"ity\, n.; pl. {Severities}. [L. severitas: cf. F. s[82]v[82]rit[82].] 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. [bd]Strict age, and sour severity.[b8] --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.