SEVERE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Severe

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/səvˈɪr/ Listen

adjective

Severe adj. (compar. severer; superl. severest)

1.

Serious in feeling or manner; sedate; grave; austere; not light, lively, or cheerful. "Your looks alter, as your subject does, From kind to fierce, from wanton to severe."

2.

Very strict in judgment, discipline, or government; harsh; not mild or indulgent; rigorous; as, severe criticism; severe punishment. "Custody severe." "Come! you are too severe a moraler." "Let your zeal, if it must be expressed in anger, be always more severe against thyself than against others."

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." "The Latin, a most severe and compendious language."

4.

Sharp; afflictive; distressing; violent; extreme; as, severe pain, anguish, fortune; severe cold.

5.

Difficult to be endured; exact; critical; rigorous; as, a severe test.

Synonyms: Strict; grave; austere; stern; morose; rigid; exact; rigorous; hard; rough; harsh; censorious; tart; acrimonious; sarcastic; satirical; cutting; biting; keen; bitter; cruel. See Strict.

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Etymology of 'Severe'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Severe" Quotes from Famous Books

... have, in our dreams," answered the children; and the Mathematical Master frowned and looked very severe, for he did not ...

— The Happy Prince and Other Tales • Oscar Wilde

... done a great wrong," replied Mrs. Hosmer. "You deserve severe punishment, but I shall not decide about that now. For the next few days you may show your penitence by doing all you can to make up to this dear child for your past great unkindness. She must stay in bed for a day or two, and I shall have the doctor ...

— Golden Days for Boys and Girls, Vol. XIII, Nov. 28, 1891 • Various

... doctrine! I have read books enough, and observed and conversed with enough of eminent and splendidly-cultured minds, too, in my time; but I assure you, I have heard higher sentiments from the lips of the poor uneducated men and women, when exerting the spirit of severe, yet gentle heroism under difficulties and afflictions, or speaking their simple thoughts as to circumstances in the lot of friends and neighbors, than I ever yet met with ...

— How to Get on in the World - A Ladder to Practical Success • Major A.R. Calhoon

... could be had. Whenever there was sickness in the place, she was an untiring nurse; and, at one time, for some nine months, she took the office of postman, and walked daily some nine miles through a severe winter. The fatigue and exposure had broken down her health, and made her an old woman before her time. At last, in a lucky hour, the Doctor came to hear of her praiseworthy struggles, and gave her the Rectory washing, which ...

— Tom Brown at Oxford • Thomas Hughes

... smallest was that of the family of a chemist who had been studying the subject and had learned something of the excessive amounts of food which many people with light muscular labor consume. This dietary supplied 3,200 calories of energy per man a day. The largest was that of brickmakers at very severe work in Massachusetts. They lived in a boarding house managed by their employers, who had evidently found that men at hard muscular work out of doors needed ample nourishment to do the largest amount of work. The food ...

— Scientific American Supplement, No. 1082, September 26, 1896 • Various

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