as in hardness
the quality or state of being demanding or unyielding (as in discipline or criticism)
even though no one expected the film to be a hit with the critics, the director was taken aback by the severity of the criticism
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Recent Examples of severity
When taken at the first signs of a cold, zinc may reduce symptom severity and shorten colds by about two days.
—
Lindsay Curtis, Health, 25 Sep. 2025
Central station fire alarms and monitored smoke detectors also offer early detection and ensure a fast response from first-responders, Dowling says, which can reduce fire damage severity dramatically.
—Kristine Gill, Better Homes & Gardens, 25 Sep. 2025
Servers running on motherboards sold by Supermicro contain high-severity vulnerabilities that can allow hackers to remotely install malicious firmware that runs even before the operating system, making infections impossible to detect or remove without unusual protections in place.
—Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 24 Sep. 2025
The team quantified the bite damage across four categories of increasing severity (ranging from ‘superficial’ to ‘critical’) and compared it to damage done on standard neoprene wetsuits.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 24 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for severity
Lindsay Curtis, Health, 25 Sep. 2025
Central station fire alarms and monitored smoke detectors also offer early detection and ensure a fast response from first-responders, Dowling says, which can reduce fire damage severity dramatically.
—Kristine Gill, Better Homes & Gardens, 25 Sep. 2025
Servers running on motherboards sold by Supermicro contain high-severity vulnerabilities that can allow hackers to remotely install malicious firmware that runs even before the operating system, making infections impossible to detect or remove without unusual protections in place.
—Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 24 Sep. 2025
The team quantified the bite damage across four categories of increasing severity (ranging from ‘superficial’ to ‘critical’) and compared it to damage done on standard neoprene wetsuits.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 24 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for severity
Recent Examples of Synonyms for severity
Noun
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Finally, impact strength assesses a material’s ability to absorb sudden shocks without shattering, highlighting that the hardness alone doesn’t always mean toughness.—
Atharva Gosavi,
Interesting Engineering,
26 Sep. 2025
-
Minerals like calcium and magnesium can cling to the surface over time, especially in areas with high water hardness.—
Daley Quinn,
Southern Living,
23 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Still, states vary in their strictness.—
Rebecca Schneid,
Time,
31 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Israeli leaders must look past the ideological rigidity that drives them to oppose any notion of Palestinian self-determination.—
SHIRA EFRON,
Foreign Affairs,
23 Sep. 2025
-
Versatility enables coherence without rigidity.—
Vibhas Ratanjee,
Forbes.com,
17 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
The harshness of the language and the raw politicking shocked voters.—
Matt Klink,
Oc Register,
6 Sep. 2025
-
The bass doesn’t overpower vocals, and the treble avoids harshness.—
Prakhar Khanna,
Forbes.com,
11 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Reportedly, a final deal between the U.S. and the EU was held up over Trump’s distaste for the stringency of the Digital Services Act, a regulation that aims to make the internet safer and more transparent for EU citizens and consumers.—
Meghan Hall,
Sourcing Journal,
8 Sep. 2025
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Further, Minnesota agencies that oversee mining have upheld the stringency of those standards when challenged by mining opponents in court.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
19 Aug. 2025
Noun
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An impressive defensive coach, he has occasionally been criticized for a certain regular season inflexibility in his rotations and overplaying his best contributors.—
Alex Kirschenbaum,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Sep. 2025
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However, the reality is that the inherent inflexibility of immutability is essential to ensuring business resiliency and provides the invaluable peace of mind that comes with knowing data will always be there, ready to be recovered, no matter what.—
David Bennett,
Forbes.com,
29 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Severity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/severity. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
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