1
as in bitterness
a harsh or sharp quality
doesn't like the asperity of most experimental music
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in severity
biting sharpness of feeling or expression
she responded with such asperity that we knew she was deeply offended by the question
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in hardship
something that is a cause for suffering or special effort especially in the attainment of a goal
He overcame his share of asperities on the road to success.
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Recent Examples of asperity
Robin Waterfield’s Aesop’s Fables: A New Translation (Basic Books, $30) renders them in all their feral, fatalistic glory—bursts of Hobbesian asperity with dubious, sometimes conflicting, morals.
—
Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 22 Aug. 2024
Advertisement On a re-read, Orwell’s narrative holds up, in large part due to the asperity of the prose and the prescient description of how fascism can creep into any society that takes freedom for granted.
—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2023
Her asperity has brought upon her the full flaming rage of the Twittersphere.
—Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 2 Oct. 2022
Imagine Don Draper’s grasp of American psychopathology delivered with the pithy asperity of Emily Dickinson.
—Megan O’Grady, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2020
By the time Keane wrote Devoted Ladies, a note of asperity had crept into her fiction.
—Francine Prose, The New York Review of Books, 22 Nov. 2018
Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 22 Aug. 2024
Advertisement On a re-read, Orwell’s narrative holds up, in large part due to the asperity of the prose and the prescient description of how fascism can creep into any society that takes freedom for granted.
—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2023
Her asperity has brought upon her the full flaming rage of the Twittersphere.
—Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 2 Oct. 2022
Imagine Don Draper’s grasp of American psychopathology delivered with the pithy asperity of Emily Dickinson.
—Megan O’Grady, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2020
By the time Keane wrote Devoted Ladies, a note of asperity had crept into her fiction.
—Francine Prose, The New York Review of Books, 22 Nov. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for asperity
Noun
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The white negroni gets its pleasant bitterness from gin infused with pine nuts.—
Rachel Bernhard,
jsonline.com,
29 Aug. 2025
-
The water cleanses the palate, while the lokum balances the drink’s bitterness.—
Ali Halit Diker,
CNN Money,
26 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Quick hits Tigers reliever Kyle Finnegan suffered right groin tightness while warming up during Wednesday's game, and the severity of the injury is unclear.—
Christian Romo,
Freep.com,
4 Sep. 2025
-
While the time can vary based on many circumstances such as the type, severity, and location of the bruise, many bruises last for about two weeks.—
Marisa Garshick,
Verywell Health,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Recent aid cuts have deepened hardships for families.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
4 Sep. 2025
-
Landslide in western Sudan kills at least 1,000 A landslide in western Sudan killed at least 1,000 people, intensifying hardship in a country besieged by years of civil war.—
Tasneem Nashrulla,
semafor.com,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
On the southwestern side of the fire, hand crews and dozers began building new containment lines along Sycamore Ridge Road to prevent the westward spread of the fire from the Dinkey Creek drainage and cut the fire off close to its active edge.—
CA WILDFIRE BOT,
Sacbee.com,
6 Sep. 2025
-
The base stores up to three tools, including a corner cleaner and an edge sweeper.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
6 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
After decades of entrenched hostility, there are early, though admittedly fragile, signals that both Lebanon and Syria may be reconsidering their approach to Israel.—
semafor.com,
semafor.com,
3 Sep. 2025
-
The war ended with a lopsided Israeli victory, and with Iran scrambling to find more ways to punish and deter Israel if hostilities resumed.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
2 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Huger was also the subject of viral bodycam footage that showed her difficulty speaking after the crash and making several statements that confused longtime fans.—
Jay Stahl,
USA Today,
3 Sep. 2025
-
The cognitive difficulties are harder to treat, Weinberger said.—
Kristen Rogers,
CNN Money,
2 Sep. 2025
Noun
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And while winners may be tempted to choose the annuity for an initial lower tax bite and to get more Powerball money, inflation and unforeseeable tax changes over 29 years could eat away at its value.—
George Petras,
USA Today,
4 Sep. 2025
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Get the recipe > This rustic soup from Chiapas, Mexico, features the grassy flavor of fresh chipilín leaves in a rich corn broth, with tender masa dumplings stuffed with creamy queso fresco for a satisfying bite.—
SAVEUR Editors,
Saveur,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
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While VUMs require more testing to establish their true risks to public health, VOIs are explicitly confirmed to have genetic changes that affect virus characteristics like transmissibility and virulence.—
Jack Knudson,
Discover Magazine,
9 June 2025
-
The diminished virulence that the pathogen evolved in response to more of its hosts dying potentially caused these earlier plague pandemics to fizzle out.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
29 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Asperity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/asperity. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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