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severity
5 dictionary results for: severity
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
se·ver·i·ty       [suh-ver-i-tee] Pronunciation Key
–noun, plural -ties.
1.harshness, sternness, or rigor: Their lives were marked by severity.
2.austere simplicity, as of style, manner, or taste: The severity of the decor was striking.
3.intensity or sharpness, as of cold or pain.
4.grievousness; hard or trying character or effect: The severity of his loss was finally becoming apparent.
5.rigid exactness or accuracy.
6.an instance of strict or severe behavior, punishment, etc.
[Origin: 1475–85; < L sevéritās, equiv. to sevér(us) severe + -itās -ity]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
se·ver·i·ty       (sə-věr'ĭ-tē)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   pl. se·ver·i·ties
  1. The state or quality of being severe.
  2. The act or an instance of severe behavior, especially punishment.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
severity 
1481, "austerity or strictness of life," from M.Fr. severite, from L. severitas, from severus "stern, strict, serious," possibly from *se vero "without kindness," from se "without" (see secret) + *vero "kindness," neuter ablative of verus "true" (see very). Meaning "strictness in dealing with others" is recorded from 1530. Severe is 1548, from M.Fr. severe, from L. severus.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
severity

noun
1. used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather [syn: badness] 
2. something hard to endure; "the asperity of northern winters" [syn: asperity] 
3. extreme plainness [syn: austereness] 
4. excessive sternness; "severity of character"; "the harshness of his punishment was inhuman"; "the rigors of boot camp" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Severity

Se*ver"i*ty\, n.; pl. Severities. [L. severitas: cf. F. s['e]v['e]rit['e].] 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. "Strict age, and sour severity." --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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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