Severe1. (superl.) Serious in feeling or manner; sedate; grave; austere; not light, lively, or cheerful.
2. (superl.) Very strict in judgment, discipline, or government; harsh; not mild or indulgent; rigorous; as, severe criticism; severe punishment.
3. (superl.) Rigidly methodical, or adherent to rule or principle; exactly conformed to a standard; not allowing or employing unnecessary ornament, amplification, etc.; strict; -- said of style, argument, etc.
4. (superl.) Sharp; afflictive; distressing; violent; extreme; as, severe pain, anguish, fortune; severe cold.
5. (superl.) Difficult to be endured; exact; critical; rigorous; as, a severe test.
Thesaurus Entries
Draconian, Herculean, Siberian, Spartan, Spartanic, abrupt, absolute, absolutist, absolutistic, abstruse, acerbic, acid, acidulous, acrid, acrimonious, acute, afflictive, aggressive, agonizing, algid, aloof, arbitrary, arctic, arduous, aristocratic, arrogant, ascetic, asperous, astringent, atrocious, austere, authoritarian, authoritative, autocratic, awful, badly, bald, bare, basic, bearish, beastly, below zero, biting, bitter, bitterly cold, bleak, blistering, bluff, blunt, blustering, blustery, boreal, bossy, brash, brisk, brumal, brusque, brutal, burdensome, candid, caustic, cavalier, chaste, churlish, close, cold, cold as charity, cold as death, cold as ice, cold as marble, common, commonplace, complex, constant, cramping, crimpy, crisp, critical, crude, cruel, crusty, curt, cutting, dangerous, delicate, demanding, despotic, dictatorial, difficile, difficult, dire, direct, disagreeable, disciplined, distressing, domineering, double-edged, dour, drastic, dreadful, dry, dull, edged, effortful, elementary, escharotic, essential, even, exact, exacting, excessive, excruciating, exigent, exorbitant, express, extravagant, extreme, faithful, fastidious, fatal, feudal, fierce, fine, flinty, forbidding, formidable, frank, freezing, freezing cold, frigid, fundamental, furious, gelid, glacial, glowering, gnawing, grave, gravely, great, grievous, grim, grinding, griping, gruff, hairy, hard, hard-earned, hard-fought, hardly, harrowing, harsh, harshly, heavy, heavy-handed, hibernal, hiemal, high-handed, homely, homespun, homogeneous, hostile, hurtful, hurting, hyperborean, ice-cold, ice-encrusted, icelike, icy, immoderate, imperative, imperial, imperious, incisive, inclement, indivisible, inerrable, inerrant, inexorable, infallible, inflexible, inhospitable, inhuman, inornate, intemperate, intense, intensely, intricate, iron-willed, irreducible, irritating, jawbreaking, keen, knotted, knotty, laborious, lean, lordly, magisterial, magistral, markedly, masterful, mathematical, matter-of-fact, mean, merciless, mere, meticulous, micrometrically precise, microscopic, modest, monastic, monocratic, monolithic, mordacious, mordant, mortal, mortified, natural, neat, nice, nipping, nippy, no picnic, nose-tickling, not easy, numbing, obdurate, of a piece, onerous, open, operose, oppressive, outrageous, overbearing, overruling, painful, painfully, painstaking, paroxysmal, penetrating, peremptory, piercing, pinching, pinpoint, piquant, pitiless, plain, plain-speaking, plain-spoken, poignant, precise, primal, primary, primitive