severe

modif.

1. Stern

   stern, exacting, uncompromising, unbending, inflexible, unchanging, unalterable, inexorable, harsh, cruel, oppressive, close, grinding, peremptory, obdurate, resolute, austere, rigid, grim, earnest, stiff, forbidding, resolved, relentless, strait-laced, determined, unfeeling, insensate, with an iron will, strict, inconsiderate, firm, immovable, as firm as the Rock of Gibraltar, adamant, unyielding.

   Antonyms flexible*, yielding*, genial. *

2. Difficult or rigorous

   overbearing, tyrannical, mordant, sharp, exacting, stringent, drastic, domineering, rigid, oppressive, despotic, unmerciful, bullying, uncompromising, obdurate, relentless, unrelenting, hard, rigorous, austere, grinding, ascetic, grim, implacable, cruel, pitiless, critical, unjust, barbarous, censorious, crusty, gruff, crabbed, unmitigated, intractable, stubborn, autocratic, Draconian, with a heart of granite, stony-hearted, hard-shell*, rock-ribbed*, hidebound*; see also difficult 1.

   Antonyms easy*, easygoing*, indulgent.

severe applies to a person or thing that is strict, uncompromising, or restrained and connotes a total absence of softness, laxity, frivolity, etc. a severe critic, hairdo, etc. and may often imply harshness severe punishment, a severe tornado; stern implies an unyielding firmness, esp. as manifested in a grim or forbidding aspect or manner a stern guardian; austere suggests harsh restraint, self-denial, stark simplicity the austere diet of wartime, or an absence of warmth, passion, ornamentation, etc. an austere bedroom; ascetic implies extreme self-denial and self-discipline or even, sometimes, the deliberate self-infliction of pain and discomfort, as by religious fanatics an ascetic hermit