severity

[suh-ver-i-tee]

noun

plural

severities 

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.

Other Word Forms

• nonseverity noun
• overseverity noun
• superseverity noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of severity¹

First recorded in 1475–85; from Latin sevēritās, from sevēr(us) severe + -itās -ity

Example Sentences

Optus' emails also underplayed the severity of the 18 September outage, which has been linked to four deaths, including that of an eight-week old baby, as people could not reach emergency services.

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Ultimately, the severity of the shutdown’s effects on health care will depend on how long it lasts.

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To assuage their fears, legislators added an amendment allowing cities to exempt those areas in the state’s very high fire hazard severity zones until about 2030.

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He went for an MRI scan on Saturday evening to determine the severity of the issue.

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In a statement, Daera said formal enforcement action was normally considered for water pollution incidents which it deemed to have a "high" or "medium" severity.

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Related Words

• harshness www.thesaurus.com