1
as in harshly
in a manner so as to cause loss or suffering
the building was severely damaged by the explosion
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in extremely
to a great degree
the rescued mountain climbers were severely dehydrated
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of severely
The car was severely damaged by the crash, video showed.
—
Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2026
The impact with Bell’s Camry severely deformed the SAFER barrier, which is comprised of steel and foam to absorb energy in wrecks.
—ABC News, 7 June 2026
In its extreme form, MS can severely limit a person’s mobility.
—Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 7 June 2026
The Israeli military said two soldiers were wounded, one severely, in an encounter Friday with militants in southern Lebanon.
—Michelle L. Price, Fortune, 6 June 2026
The net result is that most underwater robots today either exchange short status pings or must surface to transmit mission data, severely limiting real-time autonomy.
—Omar Kardoudi
june 06, New Atlas, 6 June 2026
Because chemotherapy had severely weakened his immune system, the infection quickly became life-threatening.
—Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 5 June 2026
This year, owing to a mixup in the congressional budget, one of the government’s most important scholarships was left severely underfunded, depriving thousands of Peru’s neediest high-school graduates of the opportunity to continue their studies at local universities.
—Daniel Alarcón, New Yorker, 4 June 2026
They could be punished more severely than the person who drove the vehicle.
—Thomas Lake, AJC.com, 4 June 2026
Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2026
The impact with Bell’s Camry severely deformed the SAFER barrier, which is comprised of steel and foam to absorb energy in wrecks.
—ABC News, 7 June 2026
In its extreme form, MS can severely limit a person’s mobility.
—Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 7 June 2026
The Israeli military said two soldiers were wounded, one severely, in an encounter Friday with militants in southern Lebanon.
—Michelle L. Price, Fortune, 6 June 2026
The net result is that most underwater robots today either exchange short status pings or must surface to transmit mission data, severely limiting real-time autonomy.
—Omar Kardoudi
june 06, New Atlas, 6 June 2026
Because chemotherapy had severely weakened his immune system, the infection quickly became life-threatening.
—Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 5 June 2026
This year, owing to a mixup in the congressional budget, one of the government’s most important scholarships was left severely underfunded, depriving thousands of Peru’s neediest high-school graduates of the opportunity to continue their studies at local universities.
—Daniel Alarcón, New Yorker, 4 June 2026
They could be punished more severely than the person who drove the vehicle.
—Thomas Lake, AJC.com, 4 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for severely
Adverb
-
Leo will find a legislature that is highly polarized, with the ruling Socialist Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez hammered by a series of corruption scandals and far-right groups such as Vox harshly criticizing the Socialists’ migration policy.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
6 June 2026
-
Justin Stasiw’s soundscape wastes no time throwing the audience into Mumbai, where vehicles, whistles and rickshaws harshly yet thrillingly enter the ears.—
David John Chávez,
Mercury News,
3 June 2026
Adverb
-
According to Outword Magazine Fred Palmer, the owner of Scott’s, Alan Irvine, is extremely gay supportive and has hosted numerous events for both Outword and the Rainbow Chamber of Commerce (see below).—
Sean Timberlake,
Sacbee.com,
12 June 2026
-
The whole episode is a reminder to product designers everywhere that users can be extremely sensitive to the seemingly smallest changes — and Spotify clearly had not anticipated that a teeny-tiny disco ball drop would prove to be unpopular.—
Todd Spangler,
Variety,
12 June 2026
Adverb
-
Fortunately, this spell of hot temps will be a generally drier heat — not necessarily oppressively humid like is typical for New England.—
Rick Sobey,
Boston Herald,
19 May 2026
-
The first of the four chapters is an oppressively gray-toned, narratively diffuse spy thriller, set amid the mists of what appears to be the Second World War.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
18 Dec. 2025
Adverb
-
To be candid, our process was not terribly dramatic—there were no big fights, no couples counseling—other than the drama of racing to complete the project (or, at least, most of it) before the kids were born.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 June 2026
-
While there are plenty of moments of necessary humor in the story, with Marquis flexing her knack for comic timing, other moments are terribly uncomfortable to grasp.—
David John Chávez,
Mercury News,
29 May 2026
Adverb
-
Policy credibility, once lost, is brutally hard to win back.—
William Pesek,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2026
-
This summer thriller introduces readers to five seemingly random people waiting for a train — until one of them is brutally killed.—
Desiree Anello,
PEOPLE,
10 June 2026
Adverb
-
Biological systems are incredibly good at making reactions run at low temperature and pressure through the use of catalysts.—
Chris Lee,
ArsTechnica,
9 June 2026
-
Likewise, the information helps Mancuso tailor wigs on what is sometimes very short notice, and the two departments collaborate incredibly closely to, say, transform Bad Bunny into a chatbot companion (of sorts).—
Sarah Shachat,
IndieWire,
9 June 2026
Adverb
-
Many cities and school districts are trying hard to line up job opportunities for young people.—
Dianna Douglas,
NPR,
6 June 2026
-
With his gregarious nature and hard-drinking demeanor, Lobo is an intimidating extraterrestrial mercenary and bounty hunter, but his origin story is brutal, even by those standards.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
6 June 2026
Adverb
-
Marathon needs these numbers to improve, badly.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2026
-
The story of Reconstruction had been, of course, soiled badly by the historians’ profession, to be honest.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
10 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Severely.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/severely. Accessed 12 Jun. 2026.
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