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/əspˈɛrɪti/ Listen

noun

Asperity n. (pl. asperities)

Roughness of surface; unevenness; opposed to smoothness. "The asperities of dry bodies."

Roughness or harshness of sound; that quality which grates upon the ear; raucity.

Roughness to the taste; sourness; tartness.

Moral roughness; roughness of manner; severity; crabbedness; harshness; opposed to mildness. "Asperity of character." "It is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received."

Sharpness; disagreeableness; difficulty. "The acclivities and asperities of duty."

Synonyms: Acrimony; moroseness; crabbedness; harshness; sourness; tartness. See Acrimony.

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Etymology of 'Asperity'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Asperity" Quotes from Famous Books

... and all he had meant was to express a sincere desire that the Sergeant were happily rid of doubt and suffering. A little shocked, therefore, at the interpretation that had been put on his words, he rejoined with some of the asperity of the man, though rebuked by a consciousness of not having done his own wishes justice. "You are too old and too sensible a person, Pathfinder," said he, "to fetch a man up with a surge, when he is paying out his ideas in distress, ...

— The Pathfinder - The Inland Sea • James Fenimore Cooper

... safely home. When we next encounter the decayed virtuoso, he has grown a beard (very badly kept), and set up as a philosopher of the hyper-virtuous Jaques school. Of course he lectures us upon every vice which we have not, and every little frailty which we have, with a pointed asperity that upsets our temper for the day, and causes us long afterwards to bewail the evil hour in which we rescued such an ill-conditioned grumbler from the kindly waters ...

— Horace • Theodore Martin

... the same time, obtain an introduction to Dr. Samuel Johnson and to John Wilkes, Esq. Two men more different could not perhaps be selected out of all mankind. They had even attacked one another with some asperity in their writings; yet I lived in habits of friendship with both. I could fully relish the excellence of each; for I have ever delighted in that intellectual chemistry, which can separate good qualities from evil ...

— The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 • Ministry of Education

... out of the room, she turned. "Soulsby," she said with half-playful asperity, "I'm disappointed in you. For a man who's knocked about as much as you have, I must say you've picked up an astonishingly small outfit of gumption. That poor creature in there is no more drunk ...

— The Damnation of Theron Ware • Harold Frederic

... about to retire, my lord," observed the elder Miss Ossulton, with great asperity: "I have been trying to catch the eye of Mrs ...

— Peter Simple and The Three Cutters, Vol. 1-2 • Frederick Marryat

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