SEVER'ITY, noun [Latin sveritas.]

1. Harshness; rigor; austerity; want of mildness or indulgence; as the severity of a reprimand or reproof.

2. Rigor; extreme strictness; as the severity of discipline or government.

3. Excessive figor; extreme degree or amount. Severity of penalties or punishments often defeats the object by exciting pity.

4. Extremity; quality or power of distressing; as the severity of pain or anguish.

5. Extreme degree; as the severity of cold or heat.

6. Extreme coldness or inclemency; as the severity of the winter.

7. Harshness; cruel treatment; sharpness of punishment; as severity practiced on prisoners of war.

8. Exactness; rigor; niceness; as the severity of a test.

9. Strictness; rigid accuracy.

Confining myself to the severity of truth. Dryden.