severe

See also sévère

English

Etymology

From Latin severus (“severe, serious, grave in demeanor”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /sɪˈvɪə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Adjective

severe (comparative severer, superlative severest)

1. Very bad or intense.
   • 2012 January 1, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 70: 

     Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.

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

Synonyms

brutal extreme hard

harsh intense rigorous

serious

Antonyms

• (very bad or intense): mild
• (very bad or intense): minor
• (strict or harsh): lenient

Derived terms

• severely (adverb)
• severity (noun)
• severeness (noun)

Translations

very bad or intense

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嚴重 (cmn), 严重 (cmn) (yánzhòng)

• Danish: hård (da), stærk (da), voldsom (da)
• Finnish: ankara (fi), vakava (fi), raju (fi), tuima (fi)
• Hungarian: komoly (hu), súlyos (hu)

• Italian: rigido (it), duro (it)
• Japanese: 厳しい (ja) (きびしい, kibishī)
• Polish: poważny (pl)
• Russian: суровый (ru) (suróvyj), тяжёлый (ru) (tjažólyj)
• Spanish: severo (es)

strict or harsh

• Basque: zorrotz (eu)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嚴厲 (cmn), 严厉 (cmn) (yánlì)

• Danish: streng (da)
• Esperanto: severa (eo)
• Finnish: ankara (fi), vaikea (fi)
• German: streng (de)
• Hungarian: szigorú (hu)

• Italian: duro (it), severo (it), rigido (it)
• Japanese: 厳しい (ja) (きびしい, kibishī)
• Polish: srogi (pl)
• Portuguese: duro (pt), rígido (pt), severo (pt)
• Russian: суровый (ru) (suróvyj), строгий (ru) (strógij), жёсткий (ru) (žóstkij)
• Spanish: severo (es)
• Volapük: sevärik (vo)

austere

• French: sévère (fr)

• Spanish: severo (es), austero (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: قاس (qá:si)
• Dutch: streng
• French: sévère
• Icelandic: strangur
• Indonesian: parah

• Italian: severo
• Korean: 엄격한 (eomgyeokhan)
• Portuguese: severo
• Swedish: sträng
• Telugu: తీవ్రమైన (teevramaina)

External links

• severe in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• severe in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• severe at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• reeves

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Esperanto

Adverb

severe

1. severely

Related terms

• severa

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Italian

Adjective

severe f pl

1. feminine plural form of severo

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Latin

Adjective

sevēre

1. vocative masculine singular of sevērus