as·per·i·ty

[uh-sper-i-tee]
noun, plural as·per·i·ties.
1.
harshness or sharpness of tone, temper, or manner; severity; acrimony: The cause of her anger did not warrant such asperity.
2.
hardship; difficulty; rigor: the asperities of polar weather.
3.
roughness of surface; unevenness.
4.
something rough or harsh.

Origin:
1200–50; late Middle English asperite (< Anglo-French) < Latin asperitās, equivalent to asper rough + -itās -ity; replacing Middle English asprete < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin


1. acerbity, bitterness, astringency.


1. affability, cheerfulness.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary
asperity (æˈspɛrɪtɪ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n , pl -ties
1.  roughness or sharpness of temper
2.  roughness or harshness of a surface, sound, taste, etc
3.  a condition hard to endure; affliction
4.  physics the elastically compressed region of contact between two surfaces caused by the normal force
 
[C16: from Latin asperitās, from asper rough]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

asperity
early 13c., asprete "harshness of feelings," a fig. use, from O.Fr. asperete (12c., Mod.Fr. âpreté), from L. asperitatem (nom. asperitas) "roughness," from asper "rough, harsh," of unknown origin; in L. used also of sour wine, bad weather, and hard times.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
The earthquake rupture usually begins at an asperity.
The height of the asperity should be estimated or measured.
To be chic was to show an interest in the asperity of war.
When next he spoke it was with a clipped asperity that belied the desperate pathos of what he told me.
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