Harshness

Definitions: Harshness

Harshness

Noun

1. The roughness of a substance that causes abrasions.

2. Harsh or rough to the ear.

3. The quality of being cruel and causing tension or annoyance.

4. Excessive sternness; "severity of character"; "the harshness of his punishment was inhuman"; "the rigors of boot camp".

Date "harshness" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Synonyms: Harshness

Synonyms: abrasiveness (n), cruelness (n), cruelty (n), hardness (n), inclemency (n), rigor (n), rigour (n), roughness (n), scratchiness (n), severity (n), stiffness (n). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Physical Energy	Acrimony, acritude; causiticity, virulence; poignancy; harshness; Adjective: severity, edge, point; pungency.
Severity	Noun: severity; strictness, harshness; Adjective: rigor, stringency, austerity; inclemency; (pitilessness) a; arrogance; precisianism.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Harshness

English words defined with "harshness": Acerbitude, asperity ♦ Durity ♦ gruffness ♦ hardness, hoarseness, huskiness ♦ inclemency ♦ liquid ♦ Raucity, rigor, rigour ♦ severity, sharpness, stiffness. (references)

Specialty definitions using "harshness": hooka, hubbly bubbly ♦ Priuli ♦ Voice Quality. (references)

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	You have to use your pent-up energy to fight through the harshness of reality. (The Big O; writing credit: Masanao Akahoshi; Kei'ichi Hasegawa)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Small waterfalls called headcuts gouge stream channels ever deeper as they move upstream. The variety and vigor of the insects that biologist Sam Testa collects will reflect the level of environmental harshness or pollution in this stream. P.Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer..
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Date	Quotation
John Locke	1690	Had but this one thing been well considered, without looking any deeper into the matter, it might perhaps have kept men from running into those gross mistakes, they have made, about this power of parents; which, however it might, without any great harshness, bear the name of absolute dominion, and regal authority, when under the title of paternal power it seemed appropriated to the father, would yet have founded but oddly, and in the very name shewn the absurdity, if this supposed absolute power over children had been called parental; and thereby have discovered, that it belonged to the mother too: for it will but very ill serve the turn of those men, who contend so much for the absolute power and authority of the fatherhood, as they call it, that the mother should have any share in it; and it would have but ill supported the monarchy they contend for, when by the very name it appeared, that that fundamental authority, from whence they would derive their government of a single person only, was not placed in one, but two persons jointly. (Second Treatise of Government)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	And with health, there returned to him a sort of harshness towards his grandfather.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Next, the otolaryngologist listens carefully to the patient's voice to identify breathiness or harshness. (references)
Worker Rights	Kenya	Workers' rights groups continue to raise the general problem of the Government's harshness towards labor with the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Committee on Freedom of Association. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Phrase(s)
Gennifer Flowers	I loved him with all my heart, and I believe that we both feel a betrayal. And I think that's the reason for the harshness from him, and at times from me.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

"Harshness" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Harshness" is used about 147 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	147	25,998

Language		Translations for "harshness"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		vulgaritet (crudity, vulgarism, vulgarity), vrazhdësi (abruptness, asperity, barbarity, brutality, clownery, crudity, incivility, roughness, rudeness, rusticity, truculence), pamje që të vret sytë (eyesore), ashpërsi (acrimony, asperity, austerity, coarseness, dourness, inclemency, rigor, rigorism, rigour, roughness, savagery, severity, sharpness, toughness, tyranny). (various references)

Arabic		‏فظاظة (acerbity, bad manners, bluntness, boorishness, brusqueness, coarseness, discourtesy, grossness, gruffness, impoliteness, roughness, rudeness, uncivility, uncouthness), ‏قسوة (asperity, austerity, cruelty, hardheartedness, hardness, inexorability, inhumanity, mercilessness, pitilessness, rigidity, rigor, rigour, ruggedness, severity, sternness, strictness, stringency, violence), ‏خشونة (asperity, bad manners, coarseness, crudeness, grossness, roughness, rudeness, scabrousness, severity, stringency, toughness, vulgarity), ‏شدة (adversity, exaltation, ferocity, hindrance, intensity, misery, need, rigor, solidity, strength, temperature, vehemence, violence, warmth). (various references)

Bulgarian		суровост (asperity, austerity, hardness, inclemency, rigor, rigour, roughness, rudeness, severity), яркост (brightness, flamboyance, glow, intensity, jazz, luminance, obviousness, refulgence, vigor, vigour, vividness), тръпчивост (acerbity), грубост (asperity, barbarity, broadness, callosity, crudity, curtness, foulness, incivility, indelicacy, roughness, rudeness, toughness, truculence), дрезгавост (hoarseness, roughness). (various references)

Chinese		酸辣. (various references)

Czech		drsnost (asperity, inclemency, roughness). (various references)

Danish		fiberruhed (harsh handle, harshness of fibre), fibergrovhed (harsh handle, harshness of fibre). (various references)

Dutch		hardvochtigheid. (various references)

Esperanto		senkompato. (various references)

Finnish		tylyys (brusqueness, unkindness), karskius (sternness). (various references)

French		sévérité (hardness), rudesse, rigueur, dureté (hardihood, hardness). (various references)

German		härte (aggressiveness, cruelty, firmness, flintiness, grimness, hardness, hardness grade, hardship, rigorousness, rigour, robustness, roughness, rudeness, ruthlessness, savagery, severeness, severity, sharpness, stability, steeliness, stiffness, stoniness, stringency, temper, toughness, violence). (various references)

Greek		τραχύτησ (asperity, bluffness, raucity, roughness, ruggedness, scabrousness, scragginess, seaminess, stubbiness), τραχύτητα (asperity, coarseness, raggedness, raucity, roughness, ruggedness, rugosity, scabrousness, scragginess, seaminess, stubbiness, texture), δριμύτητα (acerbity, acridity, acridness, acrimony, asperity, bitterness, crispness, criticality, keenness, poignancy, rigor, rigour, severity, sharpness, tartness, verjuice). (various references)

Hebrew		חומר�" (difficulty, gravity, rigor, rigour, severity, sternness, strictness, stringency), �'סות (coarseness, crudity, roughness, rudeness). (various references)

Hungarian		keménység (asperity, crustiness, firmness, hardness, rigidity, rigidness, rigour, severity, sternness, stiffness, substance), kíméletlenség (unkindness). (various references)

Italian		severit� (astringence, astringences, austerity, severity, sternness, strictness, stringency, topmast), durezza (dullness, flintiness, hardness, horniness, severity, stiffness, stoniness, toughness), crudelt� (barbarity, cruelty, pitilessness, unkindness), asprezza (acerbity, acridity, asperity, bitterness, pungency, ruggedness, sourness, tartness). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		残酷 (cruelty). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		しゅうそうれつじつ (severity), しゅ�"れつ (severity), ざ�"�"く (atrocity, brutality, cruelty). (various references)

Korean		모질음. (various references)

Manx		ruggaght (ruggedness), raghtanaght, garrooid (asperity, chop on water, choppiness, coarseness, crudeness, grossness, huskiness, rawness, roughage, roughness, rudeness, ruggedness, scragginess, uncouthness, unevenness of land), barbaght (pointedness, rudeness, ruggedness). (various references)

Pig Latin		arshnesshay

Portuguese		severidade (asperity, austerity, criticality, exactor, rigidity, rigor, rigorism, rigour, roughness, severity, stringency), rigorosamente (close, closely, earshot, narrowly, severely, strictly), rigor (accuracy, asperity, rigidity, rigor, rigour, severity, stringency), crueldade (atrociousness, atrocity, bloodiness, cruelty, devilry, deviltry, fellness, oppression, savagery, severity), brusquidão (abruptness, roughness), aspereza (abruptness, acerbity, asperity, harsh handle, harshness of fibre, poignancy, rough protuberances, roughness, rub, wildness). (various references)

Romanian		vârtoşie (asperity, force, hardness, roughness, vigor, vigour), strãşnicie (cruelty), severitate (asperity, rigidity, rigor, rigour, rudeness, ruggedness, severity, sternness, strictness, stringency), rigoare (hardness, rigor, rigour, strictness), duritate (asperity, callousness, crustiness, dourness, hardness, sternness), discordanţã (clashing, contrariety, disagreement, discordance), asprime (abruptness, acerbity, acrimony, asperity, bitterness, callosity, callousness, coarseness, gruffness, hardness, rigidity, rigor, rigour, roughness, rudeness, severity, sharpness, sternness, stringency), asperitate (asperity, crabbedness, roughness, ruggedness). (various references)

Russian		резкость (acerbity, poignancy, sharpness, stridency), грубость (asperity, broadness, callousness, coarseness, crudeness, crudity, discourtesy, ill breeding, ribaldry, roughness, rudeness, ruffianism, scurrility, truculence). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		hrapavost (asperity, roughness), promuklost (frog in the throat, hoarseness), okrutnost (cruelty, sternness, truculence), grubost (brusqueness, coarseness, crudeness, indelicacy, roughness, rudeness, vulgarity). (various references)

Spanish		severidad (hardness, rigor, rigour, severity, sharpness, strictness), rigor (badness, hardness, rigor, rigour, severity, sharpness, strictness, stringency), estridencia (raucousness, stridency), dureza (crustiness, dourness, hardness, toughness), aspereza (abruptness, acerbity, acridness, asperity, astringence, astringences, harsh handle, harshness of fibre, rawness, roughness, scragginess, sharpness, sourness, surliness, topmast). (various references)

Swedish		håtdhet, kärvhet (acerbity, asperity, harshest). (various references)

Turkish		haşinlik (asperity, austerity, roughness, rudeness), sertlik (asperity, austerity, bitterness, curtness, fierceness, firmness, hardness, headiness, inclemency, intemperance, kick, pungency, rigidity, rigor, rigour, severity, sharpness, solidity, starch, sternness, stiffness, stoniness, strength, strictness, stringency, tartness, toughness, vehemence, wiriness), kabalık (abruptness, asperity, barbarism, barbarity, boorishness, brusqueness, coarseness, crassness, crudeness, crudity, discourtesy, disrespect, earthiness, gall, gothicism, gruffness, impolite behaviour, impoliteness, incivility, indelicacy, inelegance, loutishness, rankness, roughness, rudeness, rusticity, shortness, vulgarism, vulgarity), şiddet (acuteness, edge, fierceness, force, forcefulness, heaviness, impetuosity, impetus, intenseness, intension, intensity, keenness, lustiness, rigor, rigour, rough stuff, severity, sharpness, smartness, sting, stringency, tempest, vehemence, violence, virulence), acımasızlık (atrocity, cold blood, cruelty, implacability, inexorability, pitilessness, ruthlessness, truculence). (various references)

Ukranian		грубість (abruptness, asperity, barbarism, barbarity, broadness, brutality, callousness, clumsiness, coarseness, crudity, roughness, rusticity, shagginess, truculence), жорсткість (acerbity, rigidity, stiffness), жорстокість (asperity, atrocity, barbarity, brutality, cruelty, ferociousness, ferocity, savagery, severity), брутальність (asperity, rudeness). (various references)

Vietnamese		tính thô ráp, tính thô bạo (crudness, grossness), tính thô bỉ (churlishness, crudness, grossness), tính t� n nhẫn (griminess, pitilessness, ruthlessness, unfeelingness), tính nhẫn tâm (griminess, iron-heartedness, ruthlessness, stoniness, unfeelingness), tính khe khắt, tính khắc nghiệt (asperity), tính cay nghiệt, tính cục cằn tính gay gắt, tính ác nghiệt. (various references)

Welsh		craster (dryness). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	acerbitas, austeritatem. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "harshness": harshnesses. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Harshness" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: harshnesses, Karshenas. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "harshness" (pronounced hÄ"rshnus)
4	-sh n u s	bearishness, boorishness, brashness, bullishness, foolishness, freshness, selfishness, skittishness, sluggishness, squeamishness, waterishness.
3	-n u s	abruptness, absoluteness, acuteness, aggressiveness, agribusiness, airworthiness, alertness, aloofness, alumnus, Anas, androgynous, anise, appropriateness, arbitrariness, assertiveness, astuteness, asynchronous, attentiveness, attractiveness, awareness, awfulness, awkwardness, backwardness, badness, bagginess, baldness, bigness, bitterness, bituminous, blackness, blandness, bleakness, blindness, bluntness, boldness, bonus, brightness, business, callousness, calmness, carelessness, casualness, cautiousness, cavernous, cheapness, chitinous, cleanliness, cleanness, cleverness, closeness, cloudiness, clumsiness, cockiness, cohesiveness, coldness, Colonus, combativeness, compactness, competitiveness, completeness, consciousness, contagiousness, contentiousness, contrariness, Conus, coolness, correctness, coziness, craziness, creativeness, creditworthiness, creepiness, crispness, crookedness, cuteness, dampness, darkness, Deaconess, deadliness, deafness, decisiveness, defensiveness, destructiveness, directness, disingenuousness, distinctiveness, divisiveness, dizziness, dreariness, drowsiness, drunkenness, dryness, dullness, eagerness, earnestness, edginess, effectiveness, elusiveness, emptiness, evenness, exogenous, eyewitness, faintness, fairness, farsightedness, fastness, fickleness, firmness, fitness, flatness, fondness, forcefulness, forgiveness, forthrightness, foulness, fractiousness, frankness, friendliness, frothiness, fullness, funniness, furnace, gauntness, gayness, gelatinous, gentleness, genuineness, genus, ghastliness, gluttonous, goodness, governess, graciousness, greatness, greenness, grimness, hairiness, handedness, happiness, hardness, harmfulness, harness, heinous, helplessness, highness, hoarseness, holiness, homelessness, homesickness, homogenous, hopefulness, hopelessness, humanness, idleness, illness, inclusiveness, indebtedness, indecisiveness, indigenous, ineffectiveness, ineptness, inertness, intravenous, intrusiveness, inventiveness, joblessness, Johannes, kindness, larcenous, largeness, lateness, lawlessness, laziness, lenis, lightfastness, lightness, likeness, liveliness, loneliness, lousiness, luminous, madness, Manus, meanness, membranous, menace, Minas, mindedness, minus, monotonous, mountainous, mutinous, narrowness, nastiness, nearsightedness, neatness, nervousness, newness, niceness, niggardliness, nitrogenous, nonbusiness, nonpoisonous, nosiness, nothingness, numbness, ominous, oneness, onus, openness, orderliness, otherness, outrageousness, outspokenness, pandanus, peacefulness, penis, permissiveness, persuasiveness, pervasiveness, pettiness, playfulness, poisonous, politeness, polygynous, pompousness, possessiveness, powerlessness, preparedness, queasiness, quickness, quietness, raciness, randomness, rareness, ravenous, rawness, readiness, reasonableness, rebelliousness, recklessness, redness, remoteness, resistiveness, resourcefulness, responsiveness, restiveness, restlessness, restrictiveness, richness, righteousness, rightness, riskiness, robustness, roominess, roughness, rowdiness, rudeness, ruinous, ruthlessness, sacredness, sadness, Salinas, sameness, scantiness, secretiveness, selflessness, sensitiveness, separateness, seriousness, shakiness, shallowness, sharpness, shortness, shortsightedness, shrewdness, shyness, sickness, silliness, sinus, slackness, sleepiness, sloppiness, slovenliness, slowness, slyness, smallness, smoothness, smugness, softness, solitariness, soundness, spiritedness, starkness, steadfastness, steadiness, steepness, sternness, stiffness, stillness, stinginess, stoutness, strangeness, stubbornness, sturdiness, suddenness, suggestiveness, sweetness, swiftness, tardiness, tartness, tastiness, tenderness, tetanus, thickness, thinness, thoroughness, thoughtfulness, tightness, timeliness, tiredness, togetherness, toughness, trustworthiness, truthfulness, ugliness, unconsciousness, uneasiness, unfairness, unhappiness, uniqueness, unpleasantness, unwieldiness, unwillingness, usefulness, vagueness, vastness, venous, viciousness, villainous, vindictiveness, vividness, voluminous, wariness, wastefulness, weakness, weariness, weightlessness, weirdness, wellness, wetness, whiteness, wholeness, wholesomeness, wickedness, wilderness, wildness, willingness, wimpiness, wistfulness, witness, wonderfulness, worldliness, worthiness, wryness.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-e-h-h-n-r-s-s-s"
	-1 letter: harshens, rashness.
	-2 letters: harness, harshen, sarsens, snashes.
	-3 letters: hanses, hashes, rashes, rehash, sarsen, sashes, shares, sharns, shears, snares.
	-4 letters: arses, ashen, ashes, asses, earns, hanse, hares, harsh, hears, herns, nares, nears, rases, rheas, saner, sanes, sears, sensa, shahs, share, sharn, shear, sheas, snare, snash.
	-5 letters: anes, ares, arse, earn, ears, eras, erns, haen, haes, hahs, hare, hash, hear, hehs, hens, hern, hers, near, ness, rase, rash, resh, rhea, sane, sans, sash, sass, sear, seas, sera, sers, shah, shea, shes.
	Words containing the letters "a-e-h-h-n-r-s-s-s"
	+2 letters: harshnesses.
	+4 letters: horsemanships.
	+5 letters: asthenospheres, sheepshearings.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.