Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun severity

4 senses of severity

Sense 1
badness, severity, severeness -- (used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather)
       => intensity, intensiveness -- (high level or degree; the property of being intense)

Sense 2
asperity, grimness, hardship, rigor, rigour, severity, severeness, rigorousness, rigourousness -- (something hard to endure; "the asperity of northern winters")
       => difficulty, difficultness -- (the quality of being difficult; "they agreed about the difficulty of the climb")

Sense 3
austereness, severity, severeness -- (extreme plainness)
       => plainness -- (the appearance of being plain and unpretentious)

Sense 4
severity, severeness, harshness, rigor, rigour, rigorousness, rigourousness, inclemency, hardness, stiffness -- (excessive sternness; "severity of character"; "the harshness of his punishment was inhuman"; "the rigors of boot camp")
       => sternness, strictness -- (uncompromising resolution)