severity

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Strictness

Nouns

1. severity; strictness, harshness, rigor, stringency, austerity, straight face; ill treatment; inclemency, pitilessness, arrogance. See insolence, violence, authority.

2. (strict rule) arbitrary power, absolutism, despotism; dictatorship, autocracy, tyranny, domineering, oppression; inquisition, reign of terror, martial law; iron heel or hand; brute force or strength; coercion, compulsion; strong hand.

3. (strict ruler) tyrant, dictator, disciplinarian, martinet, stickler, despot, taskmaster, hard master, Draco, oppressor, inquisitor, extortioner, harpy, vulture, Simon Legree, slavedriver, drillmaster. Slang, prick, hard-ass.

Verbs — be severe, give no quarter, domineer, bully, tyrannize; rack, put the screws on, be hard on, mistreat; come down on; ill-treat; rule with a rod of iron; oppress, override; trample [under foot], tread upon, crush under an iron heel, crack the whip, crack down, ride roughshod over; keep a tight rein; work in a sweatshop. Slang, play hardball.

Adjectives — severe, strict, hard, harsh, astringent, tough, dour, rigid, stiff, stern, rigorous, uncompromising, unyielding, heavy-handed, exacting, exigent, inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, hard-boiled, hard-as-nails, austere, relentless, merciless, pitiless, unforgiving, Draconian, Spartan, stringent, straitlaced, searching, unsparing, hard-fisted, ironhanded, peremptory, high-handed, absolute, positive, imperative; hard-and-fast, coercive, puritanical, dictatorial, tyrannical, extortionate, grinding, withering, oppressive, inquisitorial; inclement, ruthless, cruel, grueling; cutthroat; haughty, arrogant. Slang, hard-nosed, hard-line.

Adverbs — severely, etc.; with a high or heavy hand; at sword's point.

Quotations — Government by a tyrant is the worst form of rule (St. Thomas Aquinas), The face of tyranny is always mild at first (Racine), Kindness effects more than severity (Aesop), Severity breedeth fear (Francis Bacon).

Antonyms, see moderation, neglect, pity.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. asperity, sharpness, acerbity, grimness, hardness, unkindness, hardheartedness, strictness, austerity, rigor; see also cruelty .

Ant. pity*, kindness, softness.

III

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The fact or condition of being rigorous and unsparing: austerity, hardness, harshness, rigidity, rigor, rigorousness, sternness, strictness, stringency, toughness. See EASY. 2. Exceptionally great concentration, power, or force, especially in activity: depth (often used in plural), ferociousness, ferocity, fierceness, fury, intensity, pitch, vehemence, vehemency, violence. See BIG, STRONG.