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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



22 words match “HARSHNESS”

HARSHNESS n.
g harsh. O, she is Ten times more gentle than her father 's crabbed, And he's composed of harshness. Shak. 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense, The sound must seem an echo to the sense. Pope.
ACERBITUDE n.
Sourness and harshness. [Obs.] Bailey.
ACERBITY n.
Harshness, bitterness, or severity; as, acerbity of temper, of language, of pain. Barrow.
ASPERITY n. 2 definitions
Roughness or harshness of sound; that quality which grates upon the ear; raucity.
AUSTERENESS n.
Harshness or astringent sourness to the taste; acerbity. Johnson.
AUSTERITY n.
Sourness and harshness to the taste. [Obs.] Horsley.
CRABBED a.
Characterized by harshness or roughness; unpleasant; -- applied to things; as, a crabbed taste.
DISCORD n.
rd or harmony; a chord demanding resolution into a concord. For a discord itself is but a harshness of divers sounds mBacon. Apple of discord. See under Apple.
DURITY n.
Harshness; cruelty. Cockeram.
EASY a.
content, and the like; not anxious; tranquil; as, an easy mind. (c) Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth; as, easy manners; an easy style. "The easy vigor of a line." Pope.
FLOW v.
To glide along smoothly, without harshness or asperties; as, a flowing period; flowing numbers; to sound smoothly to the ear; to be uttered easily. Virgil is sweet and flowingin his hexameters. Dryden.
HOARSENESS n.
Harshness or roughness of voice or sound, due to mucus collected on the vocal cords, or to swelling or looseness of the cords.
HUSKINESS n.
Roughness of sound; harshness; hoarseness; as, huskiness of voice. G. Eliot.
INCLEMENCY n.
Physical severity or harshness (commonly in respect to the elements or weather); roughness; storminess; rigor; severe cold, wind, rain, or snow. The inclemencies of morning air. Pope. The rude inclemency of wintry skies. Cowper.
LIQUID a.
Pronounced without any jar or harshness; smooth; as, l and r are liquid letters.
MOLLIFY v.
To soften; to make tender; to reduce the hardness, harshness, or asperity of; to qualify; as, to mollify the ground. With sweet science mollified their stubborn hearts. Spenser.
RAUCITY n.
Harshness of sound; rough utterance; hoarseness; as, the raucity of a trumpet, or of the human voice.
SEVERITY n. 2 definitions
Gravity or austerity; extreme strictness; rigor; harshness; as, the severity of a reprimand or a reproof; severity of discipline or government; severity of penalties. "Strict age, and sour severity." Milton.
SMOOTH v.
To free from harshness; to make flowing. In their motions harmony divine So smooths her charming tones that God's own ear Listens delighted. Milton.
SOFT adv.
Softly; without roughness or harshness; gently; quietly. Chaucer. A knight soft riding toward them. Spenser.
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