asperity

Meaning

1. (formal, uncountable) 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.
2. (countable, formal) 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.
3. (figuratively, formal, uncountable) The quality of being difficult or unpleasant to experience; (countable) a thing that is harsh and difficult to endure; a difficulty, a hardship.
4. (figuratively, formal, uncountable) 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.
5. (archaic, countable, figuratively, formal, uncountable) Of sound: gratingness, harshness.
6. (archaic, countable, figuratively, formal, uncountable) Of taste: harshness or sharpness; acridity, tartness.
7. (archaic, countable, figuratively, formal, uncountable) Of writing: a lack of elegance and refinement; inelegance, roughness.

Opposite of

smoothness

Synonyms

roughness

sharpness

severity

ruggedness

grimness

harshness

rigor

rigorousness

rigour

shrillness

smartness

sourness

scragginess

trenchancy

stubbiness

raucity

trenchantness

unkindness

scabrousness

hardship

severeness

seaminess

keenness

rigourousness

truculence

truculency

turbulence

readability

violence

scratchiness

acidity

acuteness

articulation

bitterness

bluffness

brusqueness

callosity

coarseness

curtness

definition

hardheartedness

intelligibility

irregularity

legibility

penetration

piquancy

prominence

pungency

raggedness

rudeness

Translations

asperità

βιαιότητα

asprezza

δριμύτητα

zorluk

sertlik

aspérité

aspereza

durezza

rigueur

rigore

sévérité

τραχύτητα

severitat

austérité

Pronounced as (IPA)

/əˈspɛɹɪti/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: asprete

In summary

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.