HARSHNESS
Dictionary entry overview: What does harshness mean?
• HARSHNESS (noun)
The noun HARSHNESS has 4 senses:
1. the roughness of a substance that causes abrasions
2. the quality of being unpleasant (harsh or rough or grating) to the senses
3. the quality of being cruel and causing tension or annoyance
4. excessive sternness
Familiarity information: HARSHNESS used as a noun is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
• HARSHNESS (noun)
Meaning:
The roughness of a substance that causes abrasions
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Synonyms:
abrasiveness; harshness; scratchiness
Hypernyms ("harshness" is a kind of...):
raggedness; roughness (a texture of a surface or edge that is not smooth but is irregular and uneven)
Meaning:
The quality of being unpleasant (harsh or rough or grating) to the senses
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Synonyms:
harshness; roughness
Hypernyms ("harshness" is a kind of...):
unpleasantness (the quality of giving displeasure)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "harshness"):
gruffness; hoarseness; huskiness (a throaty harshness)
Meaning:
The quality of being cruel and causing tension or annoyance
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Synonyms:
cruelness; cruelty; harshness
Hypernyms ("harshness" is a kind of...):
malevolence; malevolency; malice (the quality of threatening evil)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "harshness"):
brutality; ferociousness; savagery; viciousness (the trait of extreme cruelty)
murderousness (cruelty evidence by a capability to commit murder)
Meaning:
Excessive sternness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Synonyms:
inclemency; rigorousness; rigourousness; rigor; rigour; hardness; harshness; severeness; severity; stiffness
Context examples:
severity of character / the harshness of his punishment was inhuman / the rigors of boot camp
Hypernyms ("harshness" is a kind of...):
sternness; strictness (uncompromising resolution)
