severe
/sɪˈvɪə//sɪˈvɪɹ/
severe adjective: very bad or intense.
Adjective
severe (comparative severer or more severe, superlative severest or most severe)
- 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.1934, Your Germs and Mine, page 295
- Parkinsonism, at its severest, presents itself as an akinetic amimia (as opposed to certain cortical disorders which are amimic akinesias).1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings
- Strict or harsh.
- a severe taskmaster
- Antonyms:
- lenient
- Sober, plain in appearance, austere.
- a severe old maiden aunt
- severe clothing
Proper noun capitalized: Severe
Severe (plural Severes)
- A surname.
severe meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
severe in Hindi
- very bad or intense
- कठोर kaṭhor
- strict or harsh
- कठोर kaṭhor
severe in Tamil
- கடுமைமிக்க, கடுமையான, கண்டிப்பான, கடும், தீவிர
severe in Marathi
- severe, sharp
- तीव्र tīvra
severe in Urdu
- severe
- کٹھور kaṭhōr, پرش paruś
More languagesFewer languages
- severe in Bengali
- প্রবল probol
- severe in Telugu
- మంచి mañci
- severe in Malayalam
- കടുത്ത kaṭutta
- severe in Kannada
- ಉಗ್ರ, ತೀವ್ರ, ದುಸ್ಸಹ, ಕಠಿಣ
- severe in Punjabi
- ਡਾਢਾ ḍāḍḍhā, ਸਖ਼ਤ saxt, ਕਠੋਰ kaṭhor
- severe in Sanskrit
- कठोर kaṭhora, दारुण dāruṇa
- severe in Indonesian
- parah
- severe in Persian
- سخت saxt, شدید šadid, ستهم setahm
- severe in Thai
- ร้ายแรง ráai-rɛɛng, รุนแรง run-rɛɛng, สาหัส sǎa-hàt, เข้มงวด kêm-ngûuat
Examples of severe in a sentence
- A report by the telecommunications ministry on the phone network revealed a severe capacity problem.
- After the hurricane there was a severe regional shortage of plywood, especially exterior plywood.
- Severe radiation poisoning results in the total denudation of the gastrointestinal tract.
Synonyms of severe
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of severe
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | severer |
| comparative | more severe |
| superlative | severest |
| superlative | most severe |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Severes |
Origin of severe
From Middle French, from Latin severus (“severe, serious, grave in demeanor”).
Words formed from severe
Phrases with severe
Words that rhyme with severe
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- spear
- career
- fear
- here
- steer
- appear
- cavalier
- cheer
- leer
- pioneer
- queer
- volunteer
- adhere
- beer
- chandelier
- deer
- financier
- pier
- premier
- privateer
- sheer
- veer
- vizier
- austere
- bombardier
- brigadier
- cashmere
- commandeer
- disappear
- endear
- grenadier
- interfere
- mere
- mountaineer
- peer
- sear
- tear
- tier
- unclear
- arrear
- bier
- blear
- cameleer
- cashier
- chiffonier
- cohere
- fakir
- farseer
Questions about severe
- What does severe mean?
- Severe means very bad or intense.
- What is severe in Hindi?
- Severe in Hindi is कठोर (kaṭhor). See Severe meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is severe?
- Severe can be an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce severe?
- Severe is pronounced /sɪˈvɪə/ (UK).
Words near severe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: severe (page history and authors); Severe (page history and authors); severe (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); तीव्र (Marathi) (page history and authors); پرش (Urdu) (page history and authors); প্রবল (Bengali) (page history and authors); మంచి (Telugu) (page history and authors); കടുത്ത (Malayalam) (page history and authors); severe (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕਠੋਰ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-severe.wav, en-us-severe.ogg.
Cite this entry: “severe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/severe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.