harshness

English

Etymology

harsh +-ness

Noun

harshness (plural harshnesses)

1. The quality of being harsh.

   1891 And yet these harshnesses are tenderness itself when compared with the universal harshness out of which they grow; the harshness of the position towards the temperament, of the means towards the aims, of to-day towards yesterday, of hereafter towards to-day. Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Part 6.