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SEVERE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm
Example:
a life-threatening disease
Synonyms:
dangerous; grave; grievous; life-threatening; serious; severe
Classified under:
Similar:
critical (being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency)
Derivation:
severeness (used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Very bad in degree or extent
Example:
the house suffered severe damage
Classified under:
Similar:
bad (having undesirable or negative qualities)
Derivation:
severeness; severity (used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or judgment
Example:
a Spartan upbringing
Synonyms:
severe; spartan
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
nonindulgent; strict (characterized by strictness, severity, or restraint)
Derivation:
severeness; severity (excessive sternness)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or quality
Example:
a wicked cough
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
intense (possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to a heightened degree)
Derivation:
severeness (something hard to endure)
severeness; severity (used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Severely simple
Example:
a stark interior
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
plain (not elaborate or elaborated; simple)
Derivation:
severeness (extreme plainness)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Very strong or vigorous
Example:
a severe blow
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
strong (having strength or power greater than average or expected)
Derivation:
severeness (used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather)
Context examples:
She is severe: she dislikes my faults.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
This had happened at the end of a second and less severe famine.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
More than half (58%) of participants with severe head injury showed microbleeds as did 27% of mild cases.
(Microbleeds may worsen outcome after head injury, National Institutes of Health)
It may lead to severe abdominal pain and ischemic necrosis of the intestine.
(Abdominal Aortic Thrombosis, NCI Thesaurus)
It comprises a group of lysosomal storage diseases which includes the most severe form (Hurler syndrome) and the mildest form (Scheie syndrome).
(Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I, NCI Thesaurus)
Each symptom is rated on a scale of 0-4 with 0 being normal and 4 being severe.
(Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Questionnaire, NCI Thesaurus)
A drug used to treat moderate to severe pain that does not respond to other types of pain medicine.
(Methadone hydrochloride, NCI Dictionary)
It lowers the number of normal blood-forming cells in the bone marrow, and can cause severe side effects.
(Myeloablative chemotherapy, NCI Dictionary)
When myelosuppression is severe, it is called myeloablation.
(Myelosuppression, NCI Dictionary)
The resulting anemia from this condition is less severe than that from ANCYLOSTOMIASIS.
(Necatoriasis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
