Adjacent Words

Asperity definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ASPER'ITY, n. [L. asperitas, from asper, rough.]
1. Roughness of surface; unevenness; opposed to smoothness.
2. Roughness of sound; that quality which grates the ear; harshness of pronunciation.
3. Roughness to the taste; sourness.
4. Roughness or ruggedness of temper; moroseness; sourness; crabbedness.
5. Sharpness.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: something hard to endure; "the asperity of northern winters" [syn: asperity, grimness, hardship, rigor, rigour, severity, severeness, rigorousness, rigourousness]
2: harshness of manner [syn: asperity, sharpness] [ant: bluntness, dullness]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -ties) Etymology: Middle English asprete, from Anglo-French aspreté, from aspre rough, from Latin asper, from Old Latin *absperos, from ab- ab- + -speros; akin to Sanskrit apasphura repelling, Latin spernere to spurn — more at spurn Date: 13th century 1. rigor, severity 2. a. roughness of surface ; unevenness; also a tiny projection from a surface b. roughness of sound 3. roughness of manner or of temper ; harshness <asked with some asperity just what they were implying>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 harshness or sharpness of temper or tone. 2 roughness. 3 a rough excrescence. Etymology: ME f. OF asperité or L asperitas f. asper rough

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Asperity As*per"i*ty, n.; pl. Asperities. [L. asperitas, fr. asper rough: cf. F. asp['e]rit['e].] 1. Roughness of surface; unevenness; -- opposed to smoothness. ``The asperities of dry bodies.'' --Boyle. 2. Roughness or harshness of sound; that quality which grates upon the ear; raucity. 3. Roughness to the taste; sourness; tartness. 4. Moral roughness; roughness of manner; severity; crabbedness; harshness; -- opposed to mildness. ``Asperity of character.'' --Landor. It is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received. --Johnson. 5. Sharpness; disagreeableness; difficulty. The acclivities and asperities of duty. --Barrow. Syn: Acrimony; moroseness; crabbedness; harshness; sourness; tartness. See Acrimony.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you say something with asperity, you say it impatiently and severely. (FORMAL) 'I told you Preskel had no idea,' remarked Kemp with some asperity. = sharpness N-UNCOUNT: oft with N

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Roughness, ruggedness, unevenness. 2. Acrimony, tartness, sourness, sharpness, causticity, corrosiveness. 3. Harshness, moroseness, sternness, severity, virulence, crabbedness, bitterness, churlishness, acerbity, sullenness, ill-temper See acrimony.

Moby Thesaurus

acerbity, acid, acidity, acidness, acidulousness, acridity, acrimony, anger, animosity, astringency, austerity, bad humor, bad temper, bile, biliousness, bitingness, bitter resentment, bitterness, bitterness of spirit, bumpiness, causticity, causticness, choler, choppiness, corrosiveness, cragginess, cuttingness, discontent, edge, gall, gnashing of teeth, granulation, grimness, hard feelings, hardness, hardship, harshness, heartburning, hispidity, ill humor, ill nature, ill temper, incisiveness, inclemency, inequality, irregularity, irritability, jaggedness, joltiness, keenness, mordacity, mordancy, nonuniformity, piercingness, piquancy, poignancy, pungency, raggedness, rancor, rankling, rigor, rough air, roughness, ruggedness, rugosity, scraggliness, severity, sharpness, slow burn, snappishness, soreness, sourness, spleen, stabbingness, stringency, tartness, tooth, trenchancy, turbulence, unevenness, unsmoothness, ununiformity, vicissitude, virulence, waspishness