harsh
[hahrsh]
- ungentle and unpleasant in action or effect: harsh treatment; harsh manners.
- grim or unpleasantly severe; stern; cruel; austere: a harsh life; a harsh master.
- physically uncomfortable; desolate; stark: a harsh land.
- unpleasant to the ear; grating; strident: a harsh voice; a harsh sound.
- 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.
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Origin of harsh
1250–1300; Middle English harsk; cognate with German harsch, Danish harsk rancid
Synonyms
See more synonyms for harsh on Thesaurus.com2. 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
Examples from the Web for harshest
Contemporary Examples
In the interview, Ponomarev reserved some of his harshest words for Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor and publisher of The Nation.
It is people like the al Wakeel family who pay the harshest price for this military duel.
His harshest words of criticism were aimed at those who were prideful.
Even the harshest of U.S. and world sanctions have not brought major adversaries to their knees.
The harshest and most sweeping dismissal of Paul comes not from the left but from the right.
Historical Examples
In judging his fellow-men this is Shakespeare's harshest word.
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
This is, as I have said, not the saddest, but certainly the harshest of his stories.
Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles DickensG. K. Chesterton
The sound of that harshest and most jarring of all musical instruments was every after hateful to her.
We TwoEdna Lyall
“Here, you, get a swab and mop that up,” I commanded in my harshest manner.
The Mutiny of the ElsinoreJack London
This was the harshest that my lady e'er spoke, either to me or to Marian.
A Brother To Dragons and Other Old-time TalesAmelie Rives
harsh
- rough or grating to the senses
- stern, severe, or cruel
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- (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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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
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Word Origin and History for harshest
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