severe

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New York's governor is sounding the alarm once again about what he calls a severe financial crisis.

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Definitions (23)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. adjective Unsparing, harsh, or strict, as in treatment of others: a severe critic.
  2. adjective Marked by or requiring strict adherence to rigorous standards or high principles: a severe code of behavior.
  3. adjective Stern or forbidding, as in manner or appearance: spoke in a severe voice.
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Examples (50)

  • Rejecting life and wanting to kill oneself is defined as a severe mental illness characterized by "dangerousness to self," and is treated as a quasi-crime with coercions called "treatments" (especially involuntary "hospitalization" and forced drugging). —  files.paraZite.org / "forbidden" (Anarchy) files aka. motherfucken undesirable content . Tue Dec 4 11:35:28 EET 2007
  • His mamma looks severe, and lays a finger on her lips to warn him lest he should wake his father: but her weary eyes smile in spite of herself. —  Jean-Christophe, Vol. I
  • During the winter (1776-1777), which was very severe, the British troops at Brunswick and Amboy were kept on constant duty and suffered considerable privations. —  Life And Times Of Washington, Volume 2
  • All the winters from 1883 to 1886 were severe, and old New Yorkers still speak with awe of the great blizzard of '88, though that may have been from other causes. —  ASTOUNDING
  • Although the pain was still quite severe, the Emperor was not willing to take time to put on his boot again; and in order to turn the enemy, and reassure the army as to his condition, he mounted his horse, and galloped along the line accompanied by his whole staff. —  The Private Life of Napoleon, V3
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

serious ·  terrible ·  acute ·  frequent ·  exact

Used in the same contextWord Family

severe:   severest
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin sevērus, serious, strict; see segh- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Old French severe, French sévère = Spanish Portuguese Italian severo, from Latin severus, severe, serious, grave in demeanor; perhaps orig. ‘honored,’ ‘reverenced,’ being prob. from √ sev, honor, = Greek σέβεσ, σ1θαι, honor, reverence. Cf. serious, from Latin sērius, prob. from the same root.
 

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/səˈvir/
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