severeSEVE'RE, a. [L. severus.] 1. Rigid; harsh; not mild or indulgent; as severe words; severe treatment; severe wrath. 2. Sharp; hard rigorous. Let your zeal-be more severe against thyself than against others. Taylor. 3. Very strict; or sometimes perhaps, unreasonably strict or exact; giving no indulgence to faults or errors; as severe government; severe criticism. 4. Rigorous, perhaps cruel; as severe punishment; severe justice. 5. Grave; sober; sedate to an extreme; opposed to cheerful, gay, light, lively. Your looks must alter, as your subject does, From kind to fierce, from wanton to severe. Waller. 6. Rigidly exact; strictly methodical; not lax or airy. I will not venture on on so nice a subject with my severe style. 7. Sharp; afflictive; distressing; violent; as severe pain, anguish, torture, &c. 8. Sharp; biting; extreme; as severe cold. 9. Close; concise; not luxuriant. The Latin, a most severe and compendious language- Dryden. 10. Exact; critical; nice; as a sever test. |