Meanings
plural severities
- countableuncountableThe state of being severe.
[…] the fear of God whereof ' tis written Keeper : But not the fear of punishment for sin And I can see that the uncertainty In which we act is a severity , A cruelty , amounting to injustice That nothing but God's mercy can assuage . […]
1948, Harold Vinal, Voices, numbers 132-136, →OCLC, page 51 - countableuncountableThe degree of something undesirable; badness or seriousness.
The severity of the offence merits a long prison sentence.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounused of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather
nounsomething hard to endure
nounexcessive sternness
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinsevēritās
- Middle Frenchseverite
- Middle Englishseverity
- Englishseverity
From Middle English severity, from Middle French severite (modern French sévérité), from Latin sevēritās. By surface analysis, severe + -ity.
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek χαλεπότης
- χαλεπότης (khalepótēs)state of being severe
Arabic صَرَامَة
- صَرَامَة (ṣarāma)state of being severe
Bulgarian стро́гост, суровост
- стро́гост (strógost)state of being severe
- суровост (surovost)state of being severe
Catalan severitat
- severitatstate of being severe
Chinese Mandarin 严厉, 严肃性
- 严厉 (yánlì)state of being severe
- 严肃性 (yánsùxìng)degree of something undesirable; badness
Czech vážnost (situace), kritičnost
- vážnost (situace)state of being severe
- kritičnoststate of being severe
- závažnoststate of being severe
- závažnostdegree of something undesirable; badness
Dutch ernst, strengheid
- ernststate of being severe
- strengheidstate of being severe
- ernstdegree of something undesirable; badness
- ongewenstheiddegree of something undesirable; badness
- slechtheiddegree of something undesirable; badness
Esperanto severeco
- severecostate of being severe
Finnish vakavuus, ankaruus
- vakavuusstate of being severe
- ankaruusstate of being severe
- kovuusstate of being severe
- pahuusdegree of something undesirable; badness
French sévérité, gravité
- sévéritéstate of being severe
- gravitédegree of something undesirable; badness
German Härte, Stärke
- Härtedegree of something undesirable; badness
- Stärkedegree of something undesirable; badness
- Gewichtungdegree of something undesirable; badness
Irish anróiteacht
- anróiteachtstate of being severe
Italian severità, gravità
- severitàstate of being severe
- gravitàdegree of something undesirable; badness
- serietàdegree of something undesirable; badness
Korean 엄격함, 심각함
- 엄격함 (eomgyeokham)state of being severe
- 심각함 (simgakham)state of being severe
Latin severitas
- severitasstate of being severe
Māori pākahatanga
- pākahatangastate of being severe
Persian شدت
- شدت (šeddat)degree of something undesirable; badness
Portuguese gravidade, severidade
- gravidadestate of being severe
- severidadestate of being severe
Romanian severitate, asprime
- severitatestate of being severe
- asprimestate of being severe
Russian стро́гость, суро́вость
- стро́гость (strógostʹ)state of being severe
- суро́вость (suróvostʹ)degree of something undesirable; badness
Spanish severidad, seriedad
- severidadstate of being severe
- seriedaddegree of something undesirable; badness
- severidaddegree of something undesirable; badness
- gravedaddegree of something undesirable; badness
Turkish vehamet, şiddet
- vehametstate of being severe
- şiddetstate of being severe
- derecedegree of something undesirable; badness
- ciddiyetdegree of something undesirable; badness
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with severity
All rhymes →Cite this entry
severity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/severity
“severity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/severity. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “severity,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/severity.
Source: severity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.