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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Harshness


H'ARSHNESS, noun Roughness to the touch; opposed to softness and smoothness.

1. Sourness; austereness; as the harshness of fruit.

2. Roughness to the ear; as the harshness of sound or of a voice, or of verse.

'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense,

The sound must seem an echo to the sense.

3. Roughness of temper; moroseness; crabbedness; peevishness.

4. Roughness in manner or words; severity; as the harshness of reproof.