Rigid; harsh; not mild or indulgent; as severe words; severe treatment; severe wrath.

Sharp; hard rigorous. Let your zeal-be more severe against thyself than against others. Taylor.

Very strict; or sometimes perhaps, unreasonably strict or exact; giving no indulgence to faults or errors; as severe government; severe criticism.

Rigorous, perhaps cruel; as severe punishment; severe justice.

Grave; sober; sedate to an extreme; opposed to cheerful, gay, light. Your looks must alter, as your subject does, From kind to fierce, from wanton to severe. Waller.

Rigidly exact; strictly methodical; not lax or airy. I will not venture on on so nice a subject with my severe style.

Sharp; afflictive; distressing; violent; as severe pain, anguish, torture.

Sharp; biting; extreme; as severe cold.

Close; concise; not luxuriant. The Latin, a most severe and compendious language- Dryden.

Exact; critical; nice; as a sever test.