severe

severe [sə vir′]

adj.

severer, severest [< MFr < OFr < L severus, prob. < se-, apart (see SECEDE) + IE base * wer-, (to be) friendly > OE wær, faith, pledge, bond (of friendship)]

1. harsh, strict, or highly critical, as in treatment; unsparing; stern

2. serious or grave; forbidding, as in expression or manner

3. serious or grievous [a severe wound]

4. conforming strictly to a rule, method, standard, etc.; rigidly accurate or demanding [a severe philosophy]

5. extremely plain or simple; unornamented; restrained [a dress with severe lines]

6. keen; extreme; intense [severe pain]

7. difficult; rigorous; trying [a severe test]

severely

adv.

severeness

n.

SYN.- SEVERE applies to a person or thing that is strict and uncompromising and connotes a total absence of softness, laxity, frivolity, etc. [a severe critic, hairdo, etc. ]; STERN¹ implies an unyielding firmness, esp. as manifested in a grim or forbidding aspect or manner [a stern guardian ]; AUSTERE suggests harsh restraint, self-denial, stark simplicity [the austere diet of wartime ], or an absence of warmth, passion, ornamentation, etc. [an austere bedroom ]; ASCETIC implies extreme self-denial and self-discipline or even, sometimes, the deliberate self-infliction of pain and discomfort, as by religious fanatics [an ascetic hermit ] -ANT. MILD, LAX, INDULGENT