severity meaning and definition

SEVERITY noun

Definition of severity (noun)

1. used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather
   • synonyms: badness, severeness
2. something hard to endure
   • "the asperity of northern winters"
   • synonyms: asperity, grimness, hardship, rigor, rigorousness, rigour, rigourousness, severeness
3. extreme plainness
   • synonyms: austereness, severeness
4. excessive sternness
   • "severity of character"; "the harshness of his punishment was inhuman"; "the rigors of boot camp"
   • synonyms: hardness, harshness, inclemency, rigor, rigorousness, rigour, rigourousness, severeness, stiffness