1
as in bitterness
a harsh or sharp quality
doesn't like the asperity of most experimental music
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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
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
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
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
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for asperity
Noun
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The company’s high-margin, recurring membership revenue has shown remarkable resilience during economic hardships, contributing to the stock’s recent surge.—
Trefis Team,
Forbes.com,
24 June 2025
-
The first call went to King, who signed a rest-of-season hardship waiver contract.—
Anthony De Leon,
Los Angeles Times,
23 June 2025
Noun
-
The group assembled in Romare Bearden Park shortly after 6 p.m., just barely outnumbering a dozen city police officers stationed in clusters around the area’s edge.—
Lila Hempel-Edgers,
Charlotte Observer,
27 June 2025
-
To get started, consider the following first steps: • Deploy in geographically diverse edge and core regions to avoid over-concentration.—
Mark Mahle,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2025
Noun
-
Coupled with the severity of his illness, Kotton suspected a widespread parasitic infection.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
20 June 2025
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But in the visiting clubhouse, where initial X-rays on Tatis’ hand were inconclusive about the severity of his injury, the Padres didn’t seem ready to turn down the dial.—
Jack Harris,
Los Angeles Times,
20 June 2025
Noun
-
Anyone with even a basic understanding of the movie industry of the 1930s, let alone a Hollywood mogul, would know the difficulty of adapting it to the screen with any semblance of fidelity.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 June 2025
-
The confusion highlights the difficulty of verifying information on social media.—
Kate Plummer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 June 2025
Noun
-
There’s also an on-site bar/lounge serving wine, cocktails, and light bites, and a coffee shop and cafe located next door in the Salish Visitors Center.—
Elizabeth Brownfield,
Forbes.com,
20 June 2025
-
This potential trilogy is off to a solid — if not spectacular — start, though more bite would have been welcome.—
Mark Meszoros,
Boston Herald,
19 June 2025
Noun
-
Fu also singled out Israel and called for efforts to bring an end to the hostilities.—
Anniek Bao,
CNBC,
23 June 2025
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Recent Market Performance Since the start of the current Israel-Iran hostilities on June 13, the S&P 500 has been 1.2% lower.—
Bill Stone,
Forbes.com,
22 June 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
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The results revealed that pla depletion decreases the virulence and increases the length of plague infections in mice.—
Sam Walters,
Discover Magazine,
31 May 2025
Noun
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The third element of the trio is Mary Flynn, played by the terrific Lindsey Mendez, a 2018 Tony winner for Carousel, with a natural warmth that offsets the character’s growing acerbity.—
David Rooney,
The Hollywood Reporter,
12 Dec. 2022
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The Brodie books demonstrate her great facility with genre, pairing pulse-quickening suspense with Atkinson’s distinctive blend of puckishness and acerbity.—
Sarah Chihaya,
The New Yorker,
16 Oct. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Asperity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/asperity. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.
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