Word · Frequency #18654
harshness
严厉；粗暴；刺耳
the quality of being harsh
- 1.
The quality of being harsh.
严酷、粗糙或刺耳的性质。
严酷、粗糙或刺耳的性质。；粗糙事物；刺耳；严肃
In use
The harshness of the sandpaper made it perfect for smoothing the rough edges.
The harshness of his voice during the argument surprised everyone.
The harshness of the winter storm forced many families to evacuate.
the harshness of sth
The harshness of the winter surprised everyone.
冬天的严酷让每个人都惊讶。
[adjective] harshness
She was known for her verbal harshness.
她以言语严厉著称。
harshness in sth
There is unnecessary harshness in his criticism.
他的批评中有不必要的苛刻。
to [verb] the harshness
We need to reduce the harshness of the punishment.
我们需要减轻惩罚的严厉程度。
Common mistakes
The harsh of the winter was unbearable.The harshness of the winter was unbearable.
“harsh”是形容词，不能作名词主语，应用名词“harshness”表示“严酷”。
The harshness of the diamond makes it durable.The hardness of the diamond makes it durable.
“harshness”指刺耳或严酷，不指物理硬度；“hardness”才是“硬度”。
Connections
Collocations
- the harshness of winter
- 冬天的严酷
- The harshness of winter made the mountain roads impassable.冬天的严酷使山路无法通行。
- the harshness of reality
- 现实的残酷
- She was not prepared for the harshness of reality after graduation.她对毕业后现实的残酷毫无准备。
- the harshness of criticism
- 批评的严厉
- The harshness of his criticism surprised the whole team.他批评的严厉让整个团队感到惊讶。
- the harshness of the punishment
- 惩罚的严苛
- Many people questioned the harshness of the punishment.许多人质疑惩罚的严苛。
- the harshness in her voice
- 她声音中的刺耳
- I could hear the harshness in her voice when she answered.她回答时我能听出她声音中的刺耳。
Learner notes
Memory Tip
harsh（刺耳、粗糙）+ ness（名词后缀），想象砂纸刮玻璃那种尖利刺耳的感觉，就是 harshness 的“严酷、粗糙”。
Context & Register
语域：neutral 常见场景：正式写作、日常描述 harshness 本身没有强烈的口语或书面语标记；通常用于描述声音、天气、态度或环境等的严酷或刺耳程度。实际语气多取决于搭配，正式场合中比较常见。
Grammar Note
通常用作不可数名词，但复数形式 harshnesses 存在，用于表示多种粗糙或刺耳的事物。
Pronunciation & Spelling
These words share the unstressed suffix -ness, usually pronounced /nəs/ (or /nɪs/). Freshness and brashness also match harshness’s final /ʃnəs/ segment (spelled -shness), but they are not full rhymes because the stressed vowel differs: freshness has /ɛ/, brashness has /æ/, while harshness has /ɑː/. None of the listed words is a true rhyme with harshness /ˈhɑːʃnɪs/. Especially beware of hardness: it looks similar to harshness in spelling but is pronounced with /d/ (hard + ness), not /ʃ/.
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.