Of persons: oppressive; troublesome, annoying; angry; severe, violent. Obsolete.

Of a thing: terrible, dreadful; fierce; (of judgement) harsh, severe.

Hard, severe, stern, harsh, austere, cruel towards persons or things. Obsolete.

Of actions, speech, etc.: characterized by (undue) harshness or severity; cruel; tough. Cf. hard word, n. 1.

Violent, harsh, severe. Of a person, or a person's heart, character, etc.: harsh, severe, pitiless. In later use chiefly with reference to the…

Of persons and things personified, their dispositions and temper: Severe, strict, inflexible; rigorous in punishment or condemnation; not inclined…

Difficult or awkward to deal with; haughty, arrogant; rigorous, hard, severe: the opposite of affable. Obsolete.

Severe, strict, harsh. Of persons and their utterances: Cutting in rebuke, invective, or satire; harsh and peremptory in command. Also of looks…

Not soft; hard, severe.

Of or with regard to countenance, speech, demeanour: Stern, harsh, rough, surly. Obsolete.

Of persons: Harsh, severe, stern.

Stern in manner, appearance, or disposition; severe in judgement or punishment; (of an action, disposition, etc.) strict, harsh.

Of persons and their actions: Severe, harsh, stern. Obsolete.

Severe, sharp, unsparing.

Full of sternness, severe, bold. Obsolete or archaic.

Of a person, a person's disposition or behaviour, etc.: characterized by severity, sternness, or grim fortitude; hardy, robust.

? Strenuous, hard, severe.

Severe, bitter; sharp or piercing; stinging or wounding to the feelings.

Austere, severe, harsh, bitter, morose.

= tetrical, adj.

Severe, stern, hard, or harsh. Of persons. Now dialect. (Common in 16th cent.)

Of a person, character, etc.: austere, severe, not gentle. Now rare.

Of persons, their temper, disposition, etc.: Rigorous in one's treatment of, or attitude towards, offenders; unsparing in the exaction of…

Of a person, or his or her qualities, behaviour, etc. Cf. steely, adj. 4a. Harsh, cruel, merciless; stern, severe.

Repugnant or roughly offensive to the feelings; severe, rigorous, cruel, rude, rough, unfeeling. Of actions, systems, etc.

Rigorous and severe in rule and discipline, in administering justice, etc.; not lax or indulgent.

Strict, stern, harsh. Obsolete. rare.

Pertaining to or resembling Cato; severe, stern, austere.

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Draco, archon at Athens in 621 b.c., or the severe code of laws said to have been established by him…

= tetric, adj.1

figurative. Like alkali; caustic, bitter, acerbic; (also) soapy, emollient. Sometimes (in extended figurative context) simply as the opposite or…

Of speech, manner, or temper: bitter and sharp; forthright and cutting. Later also in literal sense of food or flavour: astringently sour or…

figurative. Severe, stern; angry.

Embittered; severe.

Characterized by acerbity; acerbic.

= Draconic, adj. 1 2.