severe

See also: Severe and sévère

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɪˈvɪə/

  Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /sɪˈvɪɹ/

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Adjective

severe (comparative severer or more severe, superlative severest or most severe)

1. Very bad or intense.
   • 2012 January 1, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist‎^[1], 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.

   Antonyms: mild, en, minor

2. Strict or harsh.

   a severe taskmaster

   Antonym: lenient

3. Sober, plain in appearance, austere.

   a severe old maiden aunt

   severe clothing

Synonyms

• brutal
• extreme
• hard

• harsh
• intense
• rigorous

• serious
• heavy

Derived terms

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

 

Translations

very bad or intense

• Armenian: ծանր (hy) (canr)
• Belarusian: суро́вы (suróvy), цяжкі́ (be) (cjažkí)
• Bulgarian: суро́в (bg) (suróv), жесток (bg) (žestok)
• Chinese:

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

• Danish: hård (da), stærk (da), voldsom, kras
• Faroese: harðligur
• Finnish: ankara (fi), vakava (fi), raju (fi), tuima (fi), kova (fi)
• French: grave (fr), sévère (fr)
• Galician: severo m
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌱𐍂𐍃 (abrs)
• Greek: σφοδρός (el) m (sfodrós)
• Hebrew: חָמוּר‎ (he) m (khamur)
• Hungarian: komoly (hu), súlyos (hu)
• Icelandic: harkalegur (is)
• Indonesian: parah (id)
• Irish: anróiteach
• Italian: rigido (it), duro (it), grave (it)

• Japanese: 酷い (ja) (ひどい, hidoi)
• Latvian: nopietns, ārkārtējs
• Maori: pākaha (of pain or discomfort), tārū (of pain), kakawa (Of weather, terrain etc. )
• Middle English: sad
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hard, krass (no), brysk, ublid, voldsom (no)

  Nynorsk: hard, krass, brysk, ublid

• Occitan: sevèr (oc), estricte (oc)
• Old East Slavic: суровъ (surovŭ)
• Persian: سخت‎ (fa) (saxt), شدید‎ (fa) (šadīd), ستهم‎ (setahm)
• Polish: poważny (pl)
• Portuguese: severo (pt)
• Russian: суро́вый (ru) (suróvyj), тяжёлый (ru) (tjažólyj)
• Spanish: severo (es), grave (es)
• Swedish: hård (sv), skarp (sv), kärv (sv), brysk (sv), våldsam (sv)
• Ukrainian: суво́рий (suvóryj), тяжки́й (uk) (tjažkýj), лю́тий (uk) (ljútyj)

strict or harsh

• Basque: zorrotz
• Belarusian: суро́вы (suróvy), стро́гі (stróhi)
• Bulgarian: строг (bg) (strog)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嚴厲 (zh), 严厉 (zh) (yánlì)

• Danish: streng
• Esperanto: severa (eo)
• Finnish: ankara (fi), vaikea (fi)
• French: sévère (fr)
• German: streng (de)
• Greek: αυστηρός (el) m (afstirós), άτεγκτος (el) m (átegktos), βαρύς (el) (varýs)
• Hebrew: קָשֶׁה‎ (he) m (kashé), קָשׁוּחַ‎ m (kashúakh)
• Hungarian: szigorú (hu)
• Italian: duro (it), severo (it), rigido (it)

• Japanese: 厳しい (ja) (きびしい, kibishii)
• Latin: tētricus
• Latvian: bargs
• Maori: kakawa
• Middle English: stith
• Occitan: estricte (oc), sevèr (oc)
• Old English: āfor
• Polish: srogi (pl), surowy (pl)
• Portuguese: duro (pt), rígido (pt), severo (pt)
• Russian: суро́вый (ru) (suróvyj), стро́гий (ru) (strógij), жёсткий (ru) (žóstkij)
• Sanskrit: कठोर (sa) (kaṭhora), दारुण (sa) (dāruṇa)
• Spanish: severo (es)
• Ukrainian: суво́рий (suvóryj), стро́гий (stróhyj)
• Volapük: sevärik (vo)

austere

• Bulgarian: прост (bg) (prost), неукрасен (bg) (neukrasen)
• Finnish: vakava (fi), karu (fi)
• French: sévère (fr)
• Greek: αυστηρός (el) m (afstirós), λιτός (el) m (litós)
• Italian: austero (it)
• Japanese: 渋い (ja) (しぶい, shibui)

• Occitan: sevèr (oc), austèr (oc)
• Polish: surowy (pl)
• Portuguese: austero (pt), severo (pt)
• Russian: стро́гий (ru) (strógij), суро́вый (ru) (suróvyj)
• Spanish: severo (es), austero (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} قاس‎ (qá:si)
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} streng (nl)
• French: ^{(please verify)} sévère (fr)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} strangur (is)
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} aithrinneach, ^{(please verify)} amhnas

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} severo (it)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 엄격한 (eomgyeokhan)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} sträng (sv)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} తీవ్రమైన (te) (tīvramaina)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Reeves, everse, reeves, servee

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Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [seˈvere]
• Rhymes: -ere
• Hyphenation: se‧ve‧re

Adverb

severe

1. severely

Related terms

• severa

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /seˈvɛ.re/
• Rhymes: -ɛre
• Hyphenation: se‧vè‧re

Adjective

severe

1. feminine plural of severo

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Latin

Pronunciation

• sevēre: (Classical) IPA^(key): /seˈu̯eː.re/, [s̠eˈu̯eːrɛ]
• sevēre: (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /seˈve.re/, [seˈvɛːre]
• sēvēre: (Classical) IPA^(key): /seːˈu̯eː.re/, [s̠eːˈu̯eːrɛ]
• sēvēre: (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /seˈve.re/, [seˈvɛːre]

Adjective

sevēre

1. vocative masculine singular of sevērus

Verb

sēvēre

1. third-person plural perfect active indicative of serō

References

• “severe”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “severe”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• severe in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette

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Serbo-Croatian

Noun

severe (Cyrillic spelling севере)

1. vocative singular of sever