English
Etymology
From Middle English severity, from Middle French severite (modern French sévérité), from Latin sevēritās.[1] By surface analysis, severe + -ity.
Pronunciation
Noun
severity (countable and uncountable, plural severities)
- The state of being severe.
1948, Harold Vinal, Voices[1], numbers 132-136, →OCLC, page 51:[…] 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 . […]
- The degree of something undesirable; badness or seriousness.
The severity of the offence merits a long prison sentence.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
state of being severe
- Arabic: صَرَامَة (ṣarāma)
- Bulgarian: стро́гост (bg) f (strógost), суровост (bg) f (surovost)
- Catalan: severitat f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 严厉 (zh) (yánlì)
- Czech: vážnost f (situace), kritičnost f, závažnost f
- Dutch: ernst (nl) f, strengheid (nl) f
- Esperanto: severeco
- Finnish: vakavuus (fi), ankaruus (fi), kovuus (fi)
- French: sévérité (fr) f
- Gothic: 𐍈𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌴𐌹 f (ƕassei)
- Greek:
- Ancient Greek: χαλεπότης f (khalepótēs)
- Irish: anróiteacht f
- Italian: severità (it) f
- Korean: 엄격함 (eomgyeokham), 심각함 (simgakham)
- Latin: severitas f
- Māori: pākahatanga
- Portuguese: gravidade (pt) f, severidade (pt) f
- Romanian: severitate (ro) f, asprime (ro) f
- Russian: стро́гость (ru) f (strógostʹ)
- Spanish: severidad (es) f
- Turkish: vehamet (tr), şiddet (tr)
- Ottoman Turkish: شدت (şiddet)
- Volapük: sevär (vo)
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degree of something undesirable; badness
References