severe B1 Topic:Senses & Perception US /sɪˈvɪɹ/ UK /sɪˈvɪə/ See IPA manual Freq #4449 Meanings 1 adj Very bad, serious, or intense. She suffered from severe pain after the accident. 2 adj Strict, harsh, or stern in how someone treats others. The teacher was severe with students who arrived late. 3 adj Plain and simple in appearance, with no decoration. She wore a severe black dress with no jewellery. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · very bad, serious, or intense. extremeintenseterrible 2 adj · strict, harsh, or stern in... harshstern 3 adj · plain and simple in... austereplain Word family Forms severerseverest Derived forms nonsevereoverseveresemisevereseverelyseverenessseveritysupersevereultrasevereunsevere Common collocations severe blow Adjective + noun severe pain Adjective + noun severe burn Adjective + noun Etymology From Middle French, from Latin severus (“severe, serious, grave in demeanor”). *seǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European severus Latin View etymology graph -> Topics Senses & Perception External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # severe **Type:** Word **Level:** B1 **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /sɪˈvɪɹ/ **IPA (UK):** /sɪˈvɪə/ **Frequency rank:** 4449 ## Meanings 1. Very bad, serious, or intense. 2. Strict, harsh, or stern in how someone treats others. 3. Plain and simple in appearance, with no decoration. ## Examples - She suffered from severe pain after the accident. - The teacher was severe with students who arrived late. - She wore a severe black dress with no jewellery. ## Derived Forms - nonsevere - oversevere - semisevere - severely - severeness - severity - supersevere - ultrasevere - unsevere ## Roots and Affixes - Root: *seǵʰ- - Root: severus ## Etymology From Middle French, from Latin severus (“severe, serious, grave in demeanor”). ## Topics - Senses & Perception markdown