harshness

1. 1.

   the roughness of a substance that causes abrasions

   Synonymsabrasivenessscratchiness

   Broaderroughness
2. 2.

   the quality of being harsh or rough or grating to the senses

   Synonymsroughness

   Broaderunpleasantness

   Narrowergruffness
3. 3.

   the quality of being cruel and causing tension or annoyance

   Synonymscrueltycruelness

   Broadermalevolence

   Narrowerferociousnessmurderousness
4. 4.

   excessive sternness

   “severity of character”

   “the harshness of his punishment was inhuman”

   “the rigors of boot camp”

   Synonymsseverityseverenessrigorrigourrigorousnessrigourousnessinclemencyhardnessstiffness

   Broadersternness

Other forms of harshness

plural

harshnesses·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about harshness

What does harshness mean?

harshness means "the roughness of a substance that causes abrasions". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in harshness?

harshness has 2 syllables: harsh-ness. The stress falls on "harsh". In IPA it is /ˈhɑɹʃnəs/.

What is another word for harshness?

Close synonyms include abrasiveness, scratchiness, roughness, cruelty, cruelness. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is harshness a common word?

harshness is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.