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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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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But her private letters to her sister Cassandra show a sharper and more astringent person, someone whose cruelty and bitterness were redeemed only by her jokes.—
Lucy Worsley
September 16,
Literary Hub,
16 Sep. 2025
-
The Bitter Mai Tai is a full-fledged neo classic, first bright with lime and rum, then deep with almond, and then—where a standard Mai Tai would fall away with a lingering malic zing—the Bitter Mai Tai rises in a bold third act, humming with bitterness and the banana-funk of the rum.—
Jason O'Bryan,
Robb Report,
13 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
The severity of droughts, flooding, all of that will get worse.—
Hugh Cameron,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Sep. 2025
-
The severity of a sprain depends on how much of a ligament is torn.—
Bruce Y. Lee,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
National data show that Native students face disproportionate barriers in higher education, including financial hardship, geographic isolation, and cultural alienation at mainstream institutions.—
Marybeth Gasman,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
-
Meanwhile, Keating faced her own share of hardship.—
Dakin Andone,
CNN Money,
10 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.—
Jarrett Renshaw,
USA Today,
13 Sep. 2025
-
On the other hand, edge computing will gain, too.—
John Werner,
Forbes.com,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
When faced with Laura’s hostility, what can Cherry do but lose her mind, smash a glass against her head, and tell Daniel that his mother did it?—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
10 Sep. 2025
-
The conflict between Israel and Palestine was dividing friends, sparking tensions, and fueling rising acts of hostility.—
Rchin Bari,
Boston Herald,
10 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Peru will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces.—
Ryan Chan,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Sep. 2025
-
Flip invented the Wheezer Scale for gauging the difficulty of hiking up hills.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
16 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Watch this historic matchup on panoramic, state-of-the-art digital screens with premium seating, specialty cocktails, craft beer, and upscale bites like crispy chicken wings, flatbreads, and signature burgers.—
Nasha Smith,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
-
That took a huge bite out of Fox’s total numbers.—
Peter Baugh,
New York Times,
11 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 18 Sep. 2025.
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