severe
//sɪˈvɪə//
Forms
- Comparative
- severer
- Superlative
- severest
Definitions
1.Very bad or intense.
- In the severer cases of hookworm the patient sometimes has an appetite for soil, paper, hair, clay, chalk, starch, and other unpalatables.
- Parkinsonism, at its severest, presents itself as an akinetic amimia (as opposed to certain cortical disorders which are amimic akinesias).
2.Strict or harsh.
3.Sober, plain in appearance, austere.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2460
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
From Middle French
From Latin severus (“severe, serious, grave in demeanor”).