harsh
Americanadjective
-
ungentle and unpleasant in action or effect.
harsh treatment; harsh manners.
-
grim or unpleasantly severe; stern; cruel; austere.
a harsh life; a harsh master.
- Synonyms:
- bad-tempered, acrimonious, brutal, unkind, unfeeling, hard, brusque
-
physically uncomfortable; desolate; stark.
a harsh land.
- Synonyms:
- rough
-
unpleasant to the ear; grating; strident.
a harsh voice; a harsh sound.
- Synonyms:
- unharmonious, dissonant, discordant
-
unpleasantly rough, ragged, or coarse to the touch.
a harsh surface.
-
jarring to the eye or to the esthetic sense; unrefined; crude; raw.
harsh colors.
-
unpleasant to the taste or sense of smell; bitter; acrid.
a harsh flavor; a harsh odor.
adjective
-
rough or grating to the senses
-
stern, severe, or cruel
verb
Synonym Usage
See stern 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
harshnessnoun
-
overharshnessnoun
-
overharshadjective
-
unharshadjective
-
harshlyadverb
-
overharshlyadverb
-
unharshlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of harsh
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English harsk; cognate with German harsch, Danish harsk “rancid”
Explanation
Harsh means severe or strict, particularly when referring to punishment. It would be a harsh punishment if you got grounded for two weeks just for coming home a little late for dinner. There are many shades of meaning for the word harsh depending on its context, but all imply that something is more unpleasant than it needs to be. Harsh lighting hurts your eyes. A harsh disciplinarian gives out punishments that are too severe. Whereas constructive criticism is usually helpful, a harsh critique will only make you upset. The harsh reality of the world today is that millions of people are starving while others have too much.
Vocabulary lists containing harsh
Negative Words to Describe a Person
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Common Five-letter Words for Wordle, List 4
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Oh, No! Synonyms for "Bad"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He acknowledged various areas of investor concern, although he thinks the market reaction has been overly harsh.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
“The heat is getting more extreme every year. It’s harsh both on the crops and the working farmers like us,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
Whether the country’s 250th birthday feels like a rare civic milestone to celebrate or not depends, for many, on acknowledging the harsh truths of our era.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
The powder maintained its performance for two years under room temperature and high humidity conditions, allowing it to remain ready for immediate use in harsh military or disaster environments.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 2, 2026
In the harsh Russian winter, sometimes the pilots moved into dugouts, because it was warmer underground!
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
Australian victim Bianca Jones' parents criticised the Laos authorities for not pursuing harsher charges.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Sonnenshine and the “Little House” writers walk a fine line between the harsher recent revelations concerning the ways Ingalls’ bootstrapping mythology in the books doesn’t square with history or reality.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
And “Everything,” co-produced by Italian duo Parisi, has the harsher sawtooth grind of contemporary EDM.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
It is these administrative provisions, rather than the harsher punishments, that lie at the heart of the Akal Takht's objections.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
“Come back to Benjamin,” said Farder Coram, hearing Jacob’s breathing getting harsher and seeing his eyes close in pain.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
Excommunication is one of the harshest punishments that can be given by the Church, effectively expelling the offender from the religion and excluding them from Catholic life.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Russia remains marked by some of the developed world’s harshest mortality rates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Even so, Perry remains her own harshest critic.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
Javier Llaque, former head of the National Penitentiary Institute, said Peru already has some of Latin America's harshest sentences.
From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026
His appetite did not change under either the best or the harshest of circumstances.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
