Definition of ASPERITY

asperity

Plural: asperities

Noun

  • Harshness of tone or manner.
  • something hard to endure
    • "the asperity of northern winters"
  • harshness of manner
  • The quality of having a rough or uneven surface; roughness, unevenness; (countable, chiefly in the plural) a protruding or rough area or point on a surface; a protrusion.
  • The quality of having a rough or uneven surface; roughness, unevenness; (countable, chiefly in the plural) a protruding or rough area or point on a surface; a protrusion.
  • A section of a fault line with high friction, such that there is no movement along this part of the fault except during an earthquake.
  • The quality of being difficult or unpleasant to experience; (countable) a thing that is harsh and difficult to endure; a difficulty, a hardship.
  • The quality of being harsh or severe in the way one behaves or speaks toward another person; (countable, chiefly in the plural) a deeply hostile or resentful feeling; an animosity, a hatred.
  • Of sound: gratingness, harshness.
  • Of taste: harshness or sharpness; acridity, tartness.
  • Of writing: a lack of elegance and refinement; inelegance, roughness.

Examples

  • He challenged my word with unnecessary ASPERITY, only to be proven wrong.
  • the asperity of Maine’s winter

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English asprete, asperite, from Old French aspreté (modern French âpreté), from Latin asperitātem, the accusative singular of asperitās (“roughness, unevenness; fierceness, severity; harshness, sharpness; acidity, tartness”), from asper (“coarse, rough, uneven; bitter, fierce harsh; rude, unrefined; etc.”) (probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₂esp- (“to cut”)) + -itās (a variant of -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being)). The spelling of the English word is influenced directly by Latin asperitātem. Doublet of asperitas.

Antonyms

dullness, smoothness

Scrabble Score: 13

asperity: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
asperity: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
asperity: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 13

asperity: valid Words With Friends Word