Asperity \As*per"i*ty\, n.; pl. Asperities. [L. asperitas, fr.
asper rough: cf. F. asp['e]rit['e].]
1. Roughness of surface; unevenness; -- opposed to
smoothness. "The asperities of dry bodies." --Boyle.
[1913 Webster]
2. Roughness or harshness of sound; that quality which grates
upon the ear; raucity.
[1913 Webster]
3. Roughness to the taste; sourness; tartness.
[1913 Webster]
4. Moral roughness; roughness of manner; severity;
crabbedness; harshness; -- opposed to mildness.
"Asperity of character." --Landor.
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It is no very cynical asperity not to confess
obligations where no benefit has been received.
--Johnson.
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5. Sharpness; disagreeableness; difficulty.
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The acclivities and asperities of duty. --Barrow.
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Syn: Acrimony; moroseness; crabbedness; harshness; sourness;
tartness. See Acrimony.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
asperity
n 1: something hard to endure; "the asperity of northern winters"
[syn: grimness, hardship, rigor, rigour, severity,
rigorousness]
2: harshness of manner [syn: sharpness] [ant: dullness]
WordNet (r) 2.0
85 Moby Thesaurus words for "asperity":
acerbity, acid, acidity, acidness, acidulousness, acridity,
acrimony, anger, animosity, astringency, austerity, bad humor,
bad temper, bile, biliousness, bitingness, bitter resentment,
bitterness, bitterness of spirit, bumpiness, causticity,
causticness, choler, choppiness, corrosiveness, cragginess,
cuttingness, discontent, edge, gall, gnashing of teeth,
granulation, grimness, hard feelings, hardness, hardship,
harshness, heartburning, hispidity, ill humor, ill nature,
ill temper, incisiveness, inclemency, inequality, irregularity,
irritability, jaggedness, joltiness, keenness, mordacity, mordancy,
nonuniformity, piercingness, piquancy, poignancy, pungency,
raggedness, rancor, rankling, rigor, rough air, roughness,
ruggedness, rugosity, scraggliness, severity, sharpness, slow burn,
snappishness, soreness, sourness, spleen, stabbingness, stringency,
tartness, tooth, trenchancy, turbulence, unevenness, unsmoothness,
ununiformity, vicissitude, virulence, waspishness
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
grimness, hardship, rigor, rigorousness, rigour, severity, sharpness
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