asperity

[ uh-sper-i-tee ]

noun

, plural as·per·i·ties.

1. harshness or sharpness of tone, temper, or manner; severity; acrimony:

   The cause of her anger did not warrant such asperity.

   Synonyms: astringency, bitterness, acerbity

   Antonyms: cheerfulness, affability

2. hardship; difficulty; rigor:

   the asperities of polar weather.

3. roughness of surface; unevenness.
4. something rough or harsh.

asperity

/ æˈspɛrɪtɪ /

noun

1. roughness or sharpness of temper
2. roughness or harshness of a surface, sound, taste, etc
3. a condition hard to endure; affliction
4. physics the elastically compressed region of contact between two surfaces caused by the normal force

Word History and Origins

Origin of asperity¹

1200–50; late Middle English asperite (< Anglo-French ) < Latin asperitās, equivalent to asper rough + -itās -ity; replacing Middle English asprete < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin

Word History and Origins

Origin of asperity¹

C16: from Latin asperitās, from asper rough

Example Sentences

On a re-read, Orwell’s narrative holds up, in large part due to the asperity of the prose and the prescient description of how fascism can creep into any society that takes freedom for granted.

From Los Angeles Times

She mentions, with some asperity, a phone call from New York when “Where Is the Voice Coming From?” appeared in The New Yorker in 1963.

From New York Times

Soft scene, daring demonstration, I would not have; and I stood in peril of both: a weapon of defence must be prepared—I whetted my tongue: as he reached me, I asked with asperity, “whom he was going to marry now?”

From Literature

But he was set right there by Mrs. Bennet, who assured him with some asperity that they were very well able to keep a good cook, and that her daughters had nothing to do in the kitchen.

From Literature

Arch, cracking with energetic, even contemptuous asperity, it is a world apart from “Everybody.”

From Washington Post