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harsh

Pronunciation: /hɑːʃ/
Translate harsh | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of harsh

adjective

  • 1unpleasantly rough or jarring to the senses:drenched in a harsh white neon light harsh guttural shouts
  • 2cruel or severe:a time of harsh military discipline
  • (of a climate or conditions) difficult to survive in; hostile:the harsh environment of the desert
  • (of reality or a fact) grim and unpalatable:the harsh realities of the world news
  • having an undesirably strong effect:she finds soap too harsh and drying

Derivatives

harshen

verb

harshly

adverb

harshness

noun

Origin:

Middle English: from Middle Low German harsch 'rough', literally 'hairy', from haer 'hair'

harsh in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of harsh in the US English dictionary
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