1. Used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather
   "The severeness of the drought led to water rationing";
   - badness, severity
    
2. The quality of being hard to endure, uninviting or formidable
   "the severeness of northern winters";
   - asperity, grimness, hardship, rigor [US], rigour [Brit, Cdn], severity, rigorousness
    
3. Extreme plainness
   "The severeness of the room reflected the monk's vow of poverty";
   - austereness, severity
    
4. Excessive or stern strictness in attitude, judgment, or treatment
   "The teacher's severeness made the students nervous";
   - severity, harshness, rigor [US], rigour [Brit, Cdn], rigorousness, inclemency [archaic], stiffness

Type of: difficultness, difficulty, intensity, intensiveness, plainness, sternness, strictness