Adjacent Words

Harshness definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

H`ARSHNESS, n. Roughness to the touch; opposed to softness and smoothness.
1. Sourness; austereness; as the harshness of fruit.
2. Roughness to the ear; as the harshness of sound or of a voice, or of verse.
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense,
The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
3. Roughness of temper; moroseness; crabbedness; peevishness.
4. Roughness in manner or words; severity; as the harshness of reproof.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

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

Merriam Webster's

noun see harsh

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Harshness Harsh"ness, n. The quality or state of being harsh. O, she is Ten times more gentle than her father 's crabbed, And he's composed of harshness. --Shak. 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense, The sound must seem an echo to the sense. --Pope. Syn: Acrimony; roughness; sternness; asperity; tartness. See Acrimony.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

see harsh

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Roughness. 2. Austerity, rigor, severity, sternness, crabbedness, moroseness, churlishness, ill-temper, asperity, ill-nature, hardness, unkindness, acerbity. 3. Rudeness, incivility, bluntness, bluffness, ungraciousness, churlishness, gruffness.

Moby Thesaurus

Babel, Gothicism, Spartanism, abominability, abruptness, acerbity, acidity, acidulousness, acridity, acrimony, acuteness, aggressiveness, animality, aphonia, artificial voice, asperity, astringency, atrocity, austerity, authoritarianism, bad taste, barbarism, barbarity, barbarousness, baseness, bearishness, beastliness, bite, bitingness, bitterness, bloodlust, bluntness, bombasticness, boorishness, brashness, broken speech, broken tones, broken voice, brusqueness, brusquerie, brutality, bumpiness, cacology, cacophony, causticity, childish treble, choked voice, choppiness, churlishness, clamor, clash, clumsiness, coarseness, contemptibility, contrariety, cracked voice, cragginess, croak, crow, crudeness, cruelty, crustiness, cumbrousness, curtness, cuttingness, demandingness, despicability, despicableness, destructiveness, discipline, discord, disgustingness, dryness, dysarthria, dyslalia, dyslogia, dysphasia, dysphemism, dysphonia, dysphrasia, edge, exactingness, extremity, falsetto, ferociousness, fierceness, flintiness, force, foulness, fulsomeness, furiousness, gracelessness, granulation, grimness, grip, grossness, gruffness, gutturalism, gutturality, gutturalness, hardness, hatefulness, hawking voice, heartlessness, heaviness, heinousness, hispidity, hiss, hoarseness, huskiness, idioglossia, idiolalia, ignobility, ill-balanced sentences, impairment of speech, impetuosity, impropriety, impurity, inclemency, inconcinnity, incorrectness, indecorousness, inelegance, inelegancy, inequality, inexorableness, infelicity, inhumanity, intensity, irregularity, jaggedness, jangle, jar, joltiness, keenness, lack of finish, lack of polish, leadenness, lisp, lisping, loathsomeness, loss of voice, malignity, mercilessness, mere noise, meticulousness, mindlessness, mordacity, mordancy, murderousness, muzzy speech, nasal tone, nasalization, nastiness, nauseousness, noise, noisomeness, nonuniformity, noxiousness, objectionability, objectionableness, obnoxiousness, obscenity, odiousness, offensiveness, piquancy, pitilessness, poignancy, point, pompousness, ponderousness, poor diction, pungency, putridity, putridness, quaver, raggedness, raspiness, raucity, rebarbativeness, regimentation, relentlessness, remorselessness, repellence, repellency, repugnance, repulsiveness, rigid discipline, rigor, rottenness, rough air, roughness, rudeness, ruggedness, rugosity, ruthlessness, savagery, scraggliness, scrapiness, scratchiness, sesquipedalianism, sesquipedality, severity, shake, sharpness, short shrift, shortness, sibilation, slipshod construction, sourness, speech defect, speech impediment, sternness, stertorousness, stiltedness, sting, strictness, stridency, stringency, surliness, tartness, tastelessness, teeth, tender mercies, terrorism, thickness, throatiness, tooth, toughness, tremor, trenchancy, truculence, turbulence, turgidity, twang, ugliness, uncompassionateness, uncouthness, uneuphoniousness, unevenness, unfeelingness, unforgivingness, ungentleness, ungracefulness, unmercifulness, unrefinement, unremorsefulness, unseemliness, unsmoothness, unspeakableness, unsympatheticness, ununiformity, unwieldiness, unyieldingness, vandalism, vehemence, venom, viciousness, vileness, violence, virulence, vulgarism, vulgarity