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harsh

[hahrsh]
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adjective
  1. ungentle and unpleasant in action or effect: harsh treatment; harsh manners.
  2. grim or unpleasantly severe; stern; cruel; austere: a harsh life; a harsh master.
  3. physically uncomfortable; desolate; stark: a harsh land.
  4. unpleasant to the ear; grating; strident: a harsh voice; a harsh sound.
  5. unpleasantly rough, ragged, or coarse to the touch: a harsh surface.
  6. jarring to the eye or to the esthetic sense; unrefined; crude; raw: harsh colors.
  7. unpleasant to the taste or sense of smell; bitter; acrid: a harsh flavor; a harsh odor.
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Origin of harsh

1250–1300; Middle English harsk; cognate with German harsch, Danish harsk rancid
Related formsharsh·ly, adverbharsh·ness, nouno·ver·harsh, adjectiveo·ver·harsh·ly, adverbo·ver·harsh·ness, nounun·harsh, adjectiveun·harsh·ly, adverb

Synonyms

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2. brusque, hard, unfeeling, unkind, brutal, acrimonious, bad-tempered. See stern1. 3. rough. 4. discordant, dissonant, unharmonious. 6. unesthetic.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

hard, grim, severe, rigid, sharp, bitter, strident, bleak, stringent, tough, unkind, rude, ruthless, cruel, brutal, relentless, unpleasant, punitive, stern, coarse

Examples from the Web for harsh

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The Castle of Villefranche was harsh and stern as its master.

    The White Company

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • The Inspector's harsh voice brought out the words boastfully.

    Within the Law

    Marvin Dana

  • His dreams were all of escape from this grinding, harsh farm.

    Dust

    Mr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius

  • He perceived that he had become the victim of a harsh and ruthless dealing.

    Meadow Grass

    Alice Brown

  • Yes, he has been so harsh to you; but it is his nature, he is so to every one, and you are not the only one whom he has bullied.

    The Black Tulip

    Alexandre Dumas (Pere)

British Dictionary definitions for harsh

harsh

adjective
  1. rough or grating to the senses
  2. stern, severe, or cruel
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verb
  1. (tr) slang to cause (a state of elation) to be diminished or ended (esp in the phrases harsh someone's mellow and harsh someone's buzz)
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Derived Formsharshly, adverbharshness, noun

Word Origin

C16: probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Middle Low German harsch, Norwegian harsk rancid
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

Word Origin and History for harsh

adj.

originally of texture, "hairy," 1530s, probably from harske "rough, coarse, sour" (c.1300), a northern word of Scandinavian origin (cf. Danish and Norwegian harsk "rancid, rank"), related to Middle Low German harsch "rough, raw," German harst "a rake;" perhaps from PIE root *kars- "to scrape, scratch, rub, card" (cf. Lithuanian karsiu "to comb," Old Church Slavonic krasta, Russian korosta "to itch," Latin carduus "thistle," Sanskrit kasati "rubs, scratches"). Meaning "offensive to feelings" is from 1570s; "disagreeable, rude" from 1610s.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper