adj
Meaning 1
Very bad or intense.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: extreme, intense
Antonyms: mild, minor
Standard Lemma guide
severe
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: /sɪˈvɪə/
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UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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US: /sɪˈvɪɹ/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Canada: /sɪˈviːɹ/
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Canada: /-vɪɹ/
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rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)
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CMU ARPABET: S AH0 V IH1 R Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Strict or harsh.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- a severe taskmaster
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: brutal, hard, heartless, heavy, rigorous, serious, callous, cold, cold-eyed, cruel, dour, flint-hearted, forbidding, frosty, grim, hard-boiled, hardened, hardhearted, harsh, humorless, icy, iron-hearted, insensate, insensitive, marble-hearted, rockhearted, severe, stern, stonehearted, stony, stonyhearted, strict, tough, unsympathetic, unmoved
Antonyms: lenient
adj
Meaning 3
Sober, plain in appearance, austere.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- a severe old maiden aunt
- severe clothing
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: modest, simple, austere, bare, chaste, inornate, plain, quiet, severe, spartan, unadorned, unembellished, unextravagant, unornamented, undecked, ungarnished, untrimmed, unvarnished
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 4
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 5
causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- 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
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: dangerous, grave, grievous, serious, life-threatening
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 6
very bad in degree or extent
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a severe worldwide depression
- the house suffered severe damage
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 7
unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or judgment- H.G.Wells
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a parent severe to the pitch of hostility
- a hefty six-footer with a rather severe mien
- a strict disciplinarian
- a Spartan upbringing
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: spartan
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 8
intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or quality
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- severe pain
- a severe case of flu
- a terrible cough
- under wicked fire from the enemy's guns
- a wicked cough
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: terrible, wicked
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 9
severely simple
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a stark interior
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: austere, stark, stern
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 10
very strong or vigorous
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- strong winds
- a hard left to the chin
- a knockout punch
- a severe blow
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: hard, knockout
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Middle French, from Latin severus (“severe, serious, grave in demeanor”).
Across languages
Translations
145 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Armenian: ծանր (canr) — very bad or intense
- Belarusian: суро́вы (suróvy) — very bad or intense
- Belarusian: цяжкі́ (cjažkí) — very bad or intense
- Bulgarian: суро́в (suróv) — very bad or intense
- Bulgarian: жесток (žestok) — very bad or intense
- Chinese Mandarin: 嚴重 /严重 (yánzhòng) — very bad or intense
- Danish: hård — very bad or intense
- Danish: stærk — very bad or intense
- Danish: voldsom — very bad or intense
- Danish: kras — very bad or intense
- Faroese: harðligur — very bad or intense
- Finnish: ankara — very bad or intense
- Finnish: vakava — very bad or intense
- Finnish: raju — very bad or intense
- Finnish: tuima — very bad or intense
- Finnish: kova — very bad or intense
- French: grave — very bad or intense
- French: sévère — very bad or intense
- Galician: severo — very bad or intense
- Gothic: 𐌰𐌱𐍂𐍃 (abrs) — very bad or intense
- Greek: σφοδρός (sfodrós) — very bad or intense
- Hebrew: חָמוּר (khamur) — very bad or intense
- Hindi: कठोर (kaṭhor) — very bad or intense
- Hungarian: komoly — very bad or intense
- Hungarian: súlyos — very bad or intense
- Icelandic: harkalegur — very bad or intense
- Indonesian: parah — very bad or intense
- Irish: anróiteach — very bad or intense
- Italian: rigido — very bad or intense
- Italian: duro — very bad or intense
- Italian: grave — very bad or intense
- Japanese: 酷い (hidoi) — very bad or intense
- Latvian: nopietns — very bad or intense
- Latvian: ārkārtējs — very bad or intense
- Māori: pākaha — very bad or intense
- Māori: tārū — very bad or intense
- Māori: kakawa — very bad or intense
- Middle English: sad — very bad or intense
- Norwegian Bokmål: hard — very bad or intense
- Norwegian Bokmål: krass — very bad or intense
- Norwegian Bokmål: brysk — very bad or intense
- Norwegian Bokmål: ublid — very bad or intense
- Norwegian Bokmål: voldsom — very bad or intense
- Norwegian Nynorsk: hard — very bad or intense
- Norwegian Nynorsk: krass — very bad or intense
- Norwegian Nynorsk: brysk — very bad or intense
- Norwegian Nynorsk: ublid — very bad or intense
- Occitan: sevèr — very bad or intense
- Occitan: estricte — very bad or intense
- Old East Slavic: суровъ (surovŭ) — very bad or intense
- Persian: سخت (saxt) — very bad or intense
- Persian: شدید (šadid) — very bad or intense
- Persian: ستهم (setahm) — very bad or intense
- Polish: poważny — very bad or intense
- Portuguese: severo — very bad or intense
- Russian: суро́вый (suróvyj) — very bad or intense
- Russian: тяжёлый (tjažólyj) — very bad or intense
- Spanish: severo — very bad or intense
- Spanish: grave — very bad or intense
- Swedish: hård — very bad or intense
- Swedish: skarp — very bad or intense
- Swedish: kärv — very bad or intense
- Swedish: brysk — very bad or intense
- Swedish: våldsam — very bad or intense
- Swedish: svår — very bad or intense
- Thai: ร้ายแรง (ráai-rɛɛng) — very bad or intense
- Thai: รุนแรง (run-rɛɛng) — very bad or intense
- Thai: สาหัส (sǎa-hàt) — very bad or intense
- Tibetan: ཚབས་ཆེན་པོ (tshabs chen po) — very bad or intense
- Ukrainian: суво́рий (suvóryj) — very bad or intense
- Ukrainian: тяжки́й (tjažkýj) — very bad or intense
- Ukrainian: лю́тий (ljútyj) — very bad or intense
- Basque: zorrotz — strict or harsh
- Belarusian: суро́вы (suróvy) — strict or harsh
- Belarusian: стро́гі (stróhi) — strict or harsh
- Bulgarian: строг (strog) — strict or harsh
- Chinese Mandarin: 嚴厲 /严厉 (yánlì) — strict or harsh
- Danish: streng — strict or harsh
- Dutch: streng — strict or harsh
- Esperanto: severa — strict or harsh
- Finnish: ankara — strict or harsh
- Finnish: vaikea — strict or harsh
- French: sévère — strict or harsh
- Galician: severo — strict or harsh
- Galician: duro — strict or harsh
- Galician: estrito — strict or harsh
- German: streng — strict or harsh
- Greek: αυστηρός (afstirós) — strict or harsh
- Greek: άτεγκτος (átegktos) — strict or harsh
- Greek: βαρύς (varýs) — strict or harsh
- Hebrew: קָשֶׁה (kashé) — strict or harsh
- Hebrew: קָשׁוּחַ (kashúakh) — strict or harsh
- Hindi: कठोर (kaṭhor) — strict or harsh
- Hungarian: szigorú — strict or harsh
- Italian: duro — strict or harsh
- Italian: severo — strict or harsh
- Italian: rigido — strict or harsh
- Japanese: 厳しい (kibishii) — strict or harsh
- Latin: tētricus — strict or harsh
- Latvian: bargs — strict or harsh
- Māori: kakawa — strict or harsh
- Middle English: stith — strict or harsh
- Occitan: estricte — strict or harsh
- Occitan: sevèr — strict or harsh
- Old English: āfor — strict or harsh
- Polish: srogi — strict or harsh
- Polish: surowy — strict or harsh
- Portuguese: duro — strict or harsh
- Portuguese: rígido — strict or harsh
- Portuguese: severo — strict or harsh
- Russian: суро́вый (suróvyj) — strict or harsh
- Russian: стро́гий (strógij) — strict or harsh
- Russian: жёсткий (žóstkij) — strict or harsh
- Sanskrit: कठोर (kaṭhora) — strict or harsh
- Sanskrit: दारुण (dāruṇa) — strict or harsh
- Spanish: severo — strict or harsh
- Thai: เข้มงวด (kêm-ngûuat) — strict or harsh
- Thai: เคร่งครัด — strict or harsh
- Thai: เคร่งขรึม — strict or harsh
- Tibetan: དྲག་པོ — strict or harsh
- Ukrainian: суво́рий (suvóryj) — strict or harsh
- Ukrainian: стро́гий (stróhyj) — strict or harsh
- Volapük: sevärik — strict or harsh
- Bulgarian: прост (prost) — austere
- Bulgarian: неукрасен (neukrasen) — austere
- Finnish: vakava — austere
- Finnish: karu — austere
- French: sévère — austere
- Galician: austero — austere
- Galician: severo — austere
- Greek: αυστηρός (afstirós) — austere
- Greek: λιτός (litós) — austere
- Italian: austero — austere
- Japanese: 渋い (shibui) — austere
- Occitan: sevèr — austere
- Occitan: austèr — austere
- Polish: surowy — austere
- Portuguese: austero — austere
- Portuguese: severo — austere
- Russian: стро́гий (strógij) — austere
- Russian: суро́вый (suróvyj) — austere
- Spanish: severo — austere
- Spanish: austero — austere
- Thai: เรียบง่าย — austere
- Tibetan: དཀའ་ཐུབ་དྲག་པོ (dka' thub drag po) — austere
Real reading context