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Noun: harshness  haa(r)sh-nus
  1. The roughness of a substance that causes abrasions
    - abrasiveness, scratchiness
     
  2. The quality of being harsh, rough or grating to the senses
    - roughness
     
  3. The quality of being cruel and causing tension or annoyance
    - cruelty, cruelness
     
  4. Excessive sternness
    "the harshness of his punishment was inhuman";
    - severity, severeness, rigor [US], rigour [Brit, Cdn], rigorousness, rigourousness [Brit, non-standard], inclemency, hardness, stiffness

Type of: malevolence, malevolency, malice, raggedness, roughness, sternness, strictness, unpleasantness

Encyclopedia: Harshness