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asperity

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

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
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How to use asperity in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for asperity

asperity
/ (æˈspɛrɪtɪ) /

noun plural -ties
roughness or sharpness of temper
roughness or harshness of a surface, sound, taste, etc
a condition hard to endure; affliction
physics the elastically compressed region of contact between two surfaces caused by the normal force

Word Origin for asperity

C16: from Latin asperitās, from asper rough
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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