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Harshness   /hˈɑrʃnəs/   Listen
Harshness

noun
1.
The roughness of a substance that causes abrasions.  Synonyms: abrasiveness, scratchiness.
2.
The quality of being unpleasant (harsh or rough or grating) to the senses.  Synonym: roughness.
3.
The quality of being cruel and causing tension or annoyance.  Synonyms: cruelness, cruelty.
4.
Excessive sternness.  Synonyms: hardness, inclemency, rigor, rigorousness, rigour, rigourousness, severeness, severity, stiffness.  "The harshness of his punishment was inhuman" , "The rigors of boot camp"






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Harshness" Quotes from Famous Books



... revolts and insurrections among the subject cities and allies, Fabius thought it best to restrain them and discountenance their proceedings in a gentle manner, not treating every suspected person with harshness, or inquiring too strictly into every case of suspected disloyalty. It is said that a Marsian soldier, one of the chief men of the allies for bravery and nobility of birth, was discovered by Fabius to be engaged ...
— Plutarch's Lives, Volume I (of 4) • Plutarch

... adding soft water to it until it forms a soft paste, which, laid neatly on furniture, or even on paintings, and carefully rubbed when dry with a woollen rag, gives a polish of great brilliancy, without the harshness of the drier varnishes. ...
— Enquire Within Upon Everything - The Great Victorian Domestic Standby • Anonymous

... reception. Out of pure spite to Michael, however, when Satan learned who was his billet-master, he would no more receive him than he would receive the Wife of Beth; and instead of treating the unfortunate man with the harshness characteristic of him, he showed him considerable civilities. Introducing him to his "Ben Taigh," he directed her to show the stranger any curiosities he might wish to see, hinting very significantly that ...
— Folk-Lore and Legends - Scotland • Anonymous

... had a ring of harshness. "Believe me, I am not accustomed to being ranked with the saints," he said. "How shall I get away from your halo? I warn you, it's a most awful misfit. You'll find it out presently, and make me suffer for ...
— The Knave of Diamonds • Ethel May Dell

... than please; the images are magnified by affectation; the language is laboured into harshness. The mind of the writer seems to work with unnatural violence. Double, double, toil and trouble! There is too little appearance of ease ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole Volume 3 • Horace Walpole


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