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• n  used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather
• n  something hard to endure
• n  extreme plainness
• n  excessive sternness

• badness
• severity
• asperity
• grimness
• hardship
• rigor
• rigour
• rigorousness
• rigourousness
• austereness
• harshness
• inclemency
• hardness
• stiffness

Quotes

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• Patrik Elias in SI.com
  After a couple of days [back] in Prague, [the doctors] told my wife that I might not be able to play hockey anymore just because of the severeness of the Hepatitis,Elias says.
• Jean-Pierre Raffarin in China Daily
  France respects China's policy......President Sarkozy has realized the severeness of the problem, and is willing to improve the relations with China,said Raffarin in a joint interview.