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- pronunciation:
- s
vir
- features:
- Word Combinations (adjective)
| part of speech: |
adjective |
| inflections: |
severer, severest |
| definition 1: |
extremely strict; harsh; rigid.
His father was a severe judge of his friends.Punishment for even small crimes could be severe in those times.- synonyms:
- dour, harsh, rigorous, stern, strict
- antonyms:
- easy, gentle, lax, lenient
- similar words:
- austere, critical, demanding, exacting, hard, ironbound, oppressive, relentless, rigid, stiff
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| definition 2: |
very strong or intense.
Soldiers in severe pain were given morphine.Severe weather caused the ship to return to port.
- synonyms:
- acute, fierce, harsh, intense, violent
- antonyms:
- mild, minor, negligible, slight
- similar words:
- bad, dire, extreme, hard, raging, rigorous, rude, rugged, strong, terrible, wild
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| definition 3: |
challenging; rigorous.
His father's threat to disinherit him was a severe test of his resolve to marry this woman.- synonyms:
- difficult, fierce, rigorous, stiff, tough
- antonyms:
- easy, unchallenging
- similar words:
- arduous, demanding, dire, hard, harsh, rugged, trying
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| definition 4: |
very plain; conservative; austere.
The principal looked rather severe in her gray suit and black-framed glasses.- synonyms:
- ascetic, austere, stark
- antonyms:
- fancy, flamboyant
- similar words:
- conservative, dour, plain, simple, sober, Spartan, unadorned
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| related words: |
acute, ascetic, bare, bitter, brutal, cruel, drastic, ferocious, grueling, inhuman, mortal, nasty, pitiless, profound, puritanical, radical, rough, scrupulous, serious, solid, sore, sound, stark, stony, strict, tough, towering, uncompromising, unkind, virulent |
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| derivations: |
severely (adv.), severeness (n.) |
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