"harshness" in the noun sense
1. harshness, abrasiveness, scratchiness
the roughness of a substance that causes abrasions
2. harshness, roughness
the quality of being harsh or rough or grating to the senses
3. cruelty, cruelness, harshness
the quality of being cruel and causing tension or annoyance
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"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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