1. Used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather
   "The severity of his injuries required immediate medical attention";
   - badness, severeness [rare]
    
2. The quality of being hard to endure, uninviting or formidable
   "the severity of northern winters";
   - asperity, grimness, hardship, rigor [US], rigour [Brit, Cdn], severeness [rare], rigorousness
    
3. Extreme plainness
   "The severity of the room reflected the monk's vow of poverty";
   - austereness, severeness [rare]
    
4. Excessive or stern strictness in attitude, judgment, or treatment
   "severity of character"; "the severity of the judge's ruling";
   - severeness [rare], harshness, rigor [US], rigour [Brit, Cdn], rigorousness, inclemency [archaic], stiffness

Derived forms: severities

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

Encyclopedia: Severity