severe

severe
    adj 1: intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or
           quality; "severe pain"; "a severe case of flu"; "a
           terrible cough"; "under wicked fire from the enemy's
           guns"; "a wicked cough" [syn: {severe}, {terrible},
           {wicked}]
    2: very strong or vigorous; "strong winds"; "a hard left to the
       chin"; "a knockout punch"; "a severe blow" [syn: {hard},
       {knockout}, {severe}]
    3: severely simple; "a stark interior" [syn: {austere},
       {severe}, {stark}, {stern}]
    4: unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or judgment; "a
       parent severe to the pitch of hostility"- H.G.Wells; "a hefty
       six-footer with a rather severe mien"; "a strict
       disciplinarian"; "a Spartan upbringing" [syn: {severe},
       {spartan}]
    5: causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm; "a
       dangerous operation"; "a grave situation"; "a grave illness";
       "grievous bodily harm"; "a serious wound"; "a serious turn of
       events"; "a severe case of pneumonia"; "a life-threatening
       disease" [syn: {dangerous}, {grave}, {grievous}, {serious},
       {severe}, {life-threatening}]
    6: very bad in degree or extent; "a severe worldwide
       depression"; "the house suffered severe damage"
    

Severe \Se*vere"\, a. [Compar. {Severer}; superl. {Severest}.]
   [L. severus; perhaps akin to Gr. ??? awe, ??? revered, holy,
   solemn, Goth. swikns innocent, chaste: cf. F. s['e]v[`e]re.
   Cf. {Asseverate}, {Persevere}.]
   1. Serious in feeling or manner; sedate; grave; austere; not
      light, lively, or cheerful.
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            Your looks alter, as your subject does,
            From kind to fierce, from wanton to severe.
                                                  --Waller.
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   2. Very strict in judgment, discipline, or government; harsh;
      not mild or indulgent; rigorous; as, severe criticism;
      severe punishment. "Custody severe." --Milton.
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            Come! you are too severe a moraler.   --Shak.
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            Let your zeal, if it must be expressed in anger, be
            always more severe against thyself than against
            others.                               --Jer. Taylor.
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   3. Rigidly methodical, or adherent to rule or principle;
      exactly conformed to a standard; not allowing or employing
      unneccessary ornament, amplification, etc.; strict; --
      said of style, argument, etc. "Restrained by reason and
      severe principles." --Jer. Taylor.
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            The Latin, a most severe and compendious language.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   4. Sharp; afflictive; distressing; violent; extreme; as,
      severe pain, anguish, fortune; severe cold.
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   5. Difficult to be endured; exact; critical; rigorous; as, a
      severe test.
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   Syn: Strict; grave; austere; stern; morose; rigid; exact;
        rigorous; hard; rough; harsh; censorious; tart;
        acrimonious; sarcastic; satirical; cutting; biting;
        keen; bitter; cruel. See {Strict}.
        [1913 Webster] -- {Se*vere"ly}, adv. -- {Se*vere"ness},
        n.
        [1913 Webster]
    

384 Moby Thesaurus words for "severe":
      Draconian, Herculean, Siberian, Spartan, Spartanic, abrupt,
      absolute, absolutist, absolutistic, abstruse, acerbic, acid,
      acidulous, acrid, acrimonious, acute, afflictive, aggressive,
      agonizing, algid, aloof, arbitrary, arctic, arduous, aristocratic,
      arrogant, ascetic, asperous, astringent, atrocious, austere,
      authoritarian, authoritative, autocratic, awful, badly, bald, bare,
      basic, bearish, beastly, below zero, biting, bitter, bitterly cold,
      bleak, blistering, bluff, blunt, blustering, blustery, boreal,
      bossy, brash, brisk, brumal, brusque, brutal, burdensome, candid,
      caustic, cavalier, chaste, churlish, close, cold, cold as charity,
      cold as death, cold as ice, cold as marble, common, commonplace,
      complex, constant, cramping, crimpy, crisp, critical, crude, cruel,
      crusty, curt, cutting, dangerous, delicate, demanding, despotic,
      dictatorial, difficile, difficult, dire, direct, disagreeable,
      disciplined, distressing, domineering, double-edged, dour, drastic,
      dreadful, dry, dull, edged, effortful, elementary, escharotic,
      essential, even, exact, exacting, excessive, excruciating, exigent,
      exorbitant, express, extravagant, extreme, faithful, fastidious,
      fatal, feudal, fierce, fine, flinty, forbidding, formidable, frank,
      freezing, freezing cold, frigid, fundamental, furious, gelid,
      glacial, glowering, gnawing, grave, gravely, great, grievous, grim,
      grinding, griping, gruff, hairy, hard, hard-earned, hard-fought,
      hardly, harrowing, harsh, harshly, heavy, heavy-handed, hibernal,
      hiemal, high-handed, homely, homespun, homogeneous, hostile,
      hurtful, hurting, hyperborean, ice-cold, ice-encrusted, icelike,
      icy, immoderate, imperative, imperial, imperious, incisive,
      inclement, indivisible, inerrable, inerrant, inexorable,
      infallible, inflexible, inhospitable, inhuman, inornate,
      intemperate, intense, intensely, intricate, iron-willed,
      irreducible, irritating, jawbreaking, keen, knotted, knotty,
      laborious, lean, lordly, magisterial, magistral, markedly,
      masterful, mathematical, matter-of-fact, mean, merciless, mere,
      meticulous, micrometrically precise, microscopic, modest, monastic,
      monocratic, monolithic, mordacious, mordant, mortal, mortified,
      natural, neat, nice, nipping, nippy, no picnic, nose-tickling,
      not easy, numbing, obdurate, of a piece, onerous, open, operose,
      oppressive, outrageous, overbearing, overruling, painful,
      painfully, painstaking, paroxysmal, penetrating, peremptory,
      piercing, pinching, pinpoint, piquant, pitiless, plain,
      plain-speaking, plain-spoken, poignant, precise, primal, primary,
      primitive, prosaic, prosing, prosy, pungent, punishing, punitive,
      pure, pure and simple, racking, raw, refined, relentless,
      religious, religiously exact, repressive, restrictive, rigid,
      rigorous, rigorously, rough, roughly, rugged, rustic, ruthless,
      savage, scathing, scientific, scientifically exact,
      self-disciplined, serious, set with thorns, severe, severely,
      sharp, shooting, short, simon-pure, simple, simple-speaking,
      single, sleety, slushy, smart, snappy, snippy, sober, sore, sour,
      spare, sparse, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic, spiny, splitting,
      square, stabbing, stark, steep, stern, stiff, stinging, stone-cold,
      stony, stormy, straightforward, strait-laced, strenuous, strict,
      strident, stringent, subtle, subzero, supercooled, suppressive,
      surly, tart, taxing, terminal, thorny, ticklish, toilsome,
      tormenting, torturous, tough, trenchant, tricky, truculent,
      turbulent, tyrannical, tyrannous, unadorned, unaffected, unbending,
      uncluttered, uncompromising, unconscionable, undecorated,
      undeviating, undifferenced, undifferentiated, unelaborate,
      unembellished, unerring, unfancy, unfeeling, unfussy, ungentle,
      uniform, unimaginative, unornate, unpleasant, unpoetical,
      unsmiling, unsparing, unsympathetic, unvarnished, unyielding,
      uphill, vehement, venomous, violent, virulent, vitriolic, weighty,
      wicked, winterbound, winterlike, wintery, wintry