severe

See also: Severe and sévère

English

Etymology

From Middle French, from Latin severus (“severe, serious, grave in demeanor”).

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /sɪˈvɪə/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Adjective

severe (comparative severer or more severe, superlative severest or most severe)

  1. Very bad or intense.
    • 2012 January 1, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 1, page 70:
      Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.
  2. Strict or harsh.
    a severe taskmaster
  3. Sober, plain in appearance, austere.
    a severe old maiden aunt

Synonyms

Antonyms
  • (very bad or intense): mild
  • (very bad or intense): minor
  • (strict or harsh): lenient

Derived terms

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading
  • severe in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
  • severe in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
  • severe at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

Esperanto

Adverb

severe

  1. severely

Italian

Adjective

severe

  1. feminine plural of severo

Latin

Verb

sēvēre

  1. third-person plural perfect active indicative of serō

Adjective

sevēre

  1. vocative masculine singular of sevērus

References
  • severe in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • severe in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • severe in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
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