harsh; unnecessarily extreme

severe criticism; severe laws.

serious or stern in manner or appearance

a severe face.

grave; critical

a severe illness.

rigidly restrained in style, taste, manner, etc.; simple, plain, or austere.

causing discomfort or distress by extreme character or conditions, as weather, cold, or heat; unpleasantly violent, as rain or wind, or a blow or shock.

difficult to endure, perform, fulfill, etc.

a severe test of his powers.

rigidly exact, accurate, or methodical

severe standards.

adjective

amenable , compromising , easy-going , friendly , willing , calm , easy , facile , mild , temperate

adjective

astringent , austere , biting , caustic , close , cold , cruel , cutting , disapproving , dour , earnest , firm , flinty , forbidding , grave , grim , hard , hard-nosed , harsh , inconsiderate , inexorable , inflexible , iron-handed , obdurate , oppressive , peremptory , pitiless , relentless , resolute , resolved , rigid , satirical , scathing , serious , sober , stern , stiff * , strait-laced * , strict , tight-lipped * , unalterable , unbending , unchanging , unfeeling , unrelenting , unsmiling , unsparing , acute , arduous , ascetic , bitter , bleak , consequential , critical , dangerous , dear , demanding , despotic , distressing , domineering , drastic , effortful , exacting , extreme , fierce , grinding , heavy , hefty , implacable , inclement , intemperate , intense , mordant , overbearing , punishing , rigorous , rugged , sharp , sore , strenuous , stringent , taxing , toilsome , tough , tyrannical , unpleasant , violent , weighty , wicked , unyielding , stark , brutal , rough , powerful , momentous , backbreaking , difficult , exigent , formidable , laborious , onerous , trying , afflictive , atrocious , blistering , chronic , coarse , crucial , deadly , draconian , exact , excruciating , flagrant , grievous , grueling , gruff , heinous , hostile , ironclad , lamentable , methodical , moralistic , painful , plain , precise , puritanical , sedate , simple , solemn , spartan , stiff , straitlaced , unadorned , uncharitable , unembellished , unmerciful , vehement