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ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Severe

Definition, Meaning & Examples

Pronunciation /sɪˈvɪə/ · Part of speech adjective

Quick meaning: Severe is an adjective meaning Very bad or intense.

Meaning

Very bad or intense.

More Meanings

  1. Strict or harsh.
  2. Sober, plain in appearance, austere.

Example Sentences

severe clothing
a severe taskmaster
a severe old maiden aunt
In the severer cases of hookworm the patient sometimes has an appetite for soil, paper, hair, clay, chalk, starch, and other unpalatables.

Word Forms

Synonyms for severe

Depending on context, synonyms include extreme, intense, brutal, hard, heartless, heavy.

extremeintensebrutalhardheartlessheavyrigorousseriouscallouscoldcold-eyedcrueldourflint-heartedforbiddingfrostygrimhard-boiledhardenedhardheartedharshhumorlessicyiron-heartedinsensateinsensitivemarble-heartedrockheartedstern

Antonyms for severe

Common opposites include mild, minor, lenient.

mildminorlenient

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include austere, hard, stark, terrible, wicked, dangerous.

austerehardstarkterriblewickeddangerousgrievousstrictintensestrongcriticalbadspartanseriousknockoutnonindulgentplaingravedraconianharshly

Related Dictionary Tools

Open Word FinderBrowse dictionary SView thesaurus for severe6 letter words59 Negative Words

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.