severe

comparative severer · comparative more severe · superlative severest · superlative most severe

1. Very bad or intense.

   In the severer cases of hookworm the patient sometimes has an appetite for soil, paper, hair, clay, chalk, starch, and other unpalatables.

   1934, Your Germs and Mine, page 295

   2 more examples

   Parkinsonism, at its severest, presents itself as an akinetic amimia (as opposed to certain cortical disorders which are amimic akinesias).

   1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings

   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.

   2012 January 28, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 26 Jan 2012, page 70

   Synonyms: extreme, intense, acute · Antonyms: mild, minor

2. Strict or harsh.

   a severe taskmaster

   Synonyms: brutal, hard, heartless, heavy, rigorous, serious, brutal, callous · Antonyms: lenient

3. Sober, plain in appearance, austere.

   severe clothing

   1 more example

   a severe old maiden aunt

   Synonyms: modest, simple, austere, bare, chaste, inornate, modest, plain

plural Severes

1. A surname.