Harshness

noun

noun ·2 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The quality of being harsh. countable, uncountable

    "And yet these harshnesses are tenderness itself when compared with the universal harshness out of which they grow; the harshness of the position towards the temperament, of the means towards the aims, of to-day towards yesterday, of hereafter towards to-day."

  2. 2
    excessive sternness wordnet
  3. 3
    the quality of being cruel and causing tension or annoyance wordnet
  4. 4
    the roughness of a substance that causes abrasions wordnet
  5. 5
    the quality of being harsh or rough or grating to the senses wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
crueltyseverityabominabilityabrasivenessabruptnessacerbity

Example

More examples

"Find a mean between harshness and indulgence."

Etymology

From Middle English harsknes; equivalent to harsh + -ness.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.