severeness

se·vere  (s-vîr)

adj. se·ver·er, se·ver·est

1. Unsparing, harsh, or strict, as in treatment of others: a severe critic.

2. Marked by or requiring strict adherence to rigorous standards or high principles: a severe code of behavior.

3. Stern or forbidding, as in manner or appearance: spoke in a severe voice.

4. Extremely plain in substance or style: a severe black dress.

5. Causing great discomfort, damage, or distress: a severe pain; a severe storm.

6. Very dangerous or harmful; grave or grievous: severe mental illness.

7. Extremely difficult to perform or endure; trying: a severe test of our loyalty.

---

[Latin sevrus, serious, strict; see segh- in Indo-European roots.]

---

se·verely adv.

se·vereness n.

Synonyms: severe, stern¹, austere, ascetic, strict
These adjectives mean unsparing and exacting with respect to discipline or control. Severe implies adherence to rigorous standards or high principles and often suggests harshness: "Praise or blame has but a momentary effect on the man whose love of beauty in the abstract makes him a severe critic on his own works" (John Keats).
Stern suggests unyielding disposition, uncompromising resolution, or forbidding appearance or nature: "a man fatally stern and implacable" (George Meredith).
Austere connotes aloofness or lack of feeling or sympathy, and often rigid morality: Austere officers demand meticulous conformity with military regulations.
Ascetic suggests self-discipline and often renunciation of worldly pleasures for spiritual improvement: "Be systematically ascetic ... do ... something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it" (William James).
Strict means requiring or showing stringent observance of obligations, rules, or standards: "He could not be severe nor even passably strict" (W.H. Hudson).

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	severeness - used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather severity, badness intensiveness, intensity - high level or degree; the property of being intense raininess, foulness - (of weather) the badness of the weather; "they were wearied with the foulness of the weather" distressfulness, seriousness - the quality of arousing fear or distress; "he learned the seriousness of his illness"
	2.	severeness - something hard to endure; "the asperity of northern winters" asperity, rigor, rigorousness, rigourousness, severity, rigour, grimness, hardship difficultness, difficulty - the quality of being difficult; "they agreed about the difficulty of the climb" sternness - the quality (as of scenery) being grim and gloomy and forbidding; "the sternness of his surroundings made him uncomfortable"
	3.	severeness - extreme plainness                     austereness, severity plainness - the appearance of being plain and unpretentious
	4.	severeness - excessive sternness; "severity of character"; "the harshness of his punishment was inhuman"; "the rigors of boot camp" inclemency, rigorousness, rigourousness, rigour, rigor, harshness, severity, stiffness, hardness sternness, strictness - uncompromising resolution