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asperity

noun
/əˈspɛɹɪti/UK/əˈspɛɹɪti/US

Etymology

From Middle English asprete, asperite, from Old French aspreté (modern French âpreté), from Latin asperitātem, the accusative singular of asperitās (“roughness, unevenness; fierceness, severity; harshness, sharpness; acidity, tartness”), from asper (“coarse, rough, uneven; bitter, fierce harsh; rude, unrefined; etc.”) (probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₂esp- (“to cut”)) + -itās (a variant of -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being)). The spelling of the English word is influenced directly by Latin asperitātem. Doublet of asperitas.

  1. derived from *h₂esp-✻ — “to cut”
  2. derived from asperitātem
  3. derived from aspreté
  4. inherited from asprete

Definitions

  1. The quality of having a rough or uneven surface

    The quality of having a rough or uneven surface; roughness, unevenness; (countable, chiefly in the plural) a protruding or rough area or point on a surface; a protrusion.

    • Oyle of ſwete Almondes and of ſiſami taketh away the aſperitie and rougheneſſe of the throte.
    • The iuyce of Mynte mengled with honied water, cureth the payne of the eares being dropped therein, and taketh away the aſperitie, and roughneſſe of the tongue, whan it is rubbed or waſſhed therewith.
    • [I]f Man vvere out of the vvorld, vvho vvere then left […] to vievv the aſperityes of the Moon through a Dioptrick-glaſſe, and venture at the Proportion of her Hills by their ſhadovves[…]?

  2. The quality of being difficult or unpleasant to experience

    The quality of being difficult or unpleasant to experience; (countable) a thing that is harsh and difficult to endure; a difficulty, a hardship.

    • the asperity of Maine’s winter

  3. The quality of being harsh or severe in the way one behaves or speaks toward another…

    The quality of being harsh or severe in the way one behaves or speaks toward another person; (countable, chiefly in the plural) a deeply hostile or resentful feeling; an animosity, a hatred.

    • But leaſt he ſhoulde offend the Iewes with the aſperitie of the word, if hee had ſaid that the lawe was dead, hee vſed a digreſſion, or deflection, ſaying, we are dead to the law.
    • The animadverſions of critics are commonly ſuch as may eaſily provoke the ſedateſt vvriter to ſome quickneſs of reſentment and aſperity of reply.
  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. Of sound

      Of sound: gratingness, harshness.

      • [T]he importunate, harſh and diſharmonious Coaxations of Frogs, (ſo called in the Greek from that very ungratefull noiſe, […] from the ſhrilneſs and aſperity of the noiſe they make) […]
      • [John] Miltonm therefore ſeems to have ſomevvhat miſtaken the nature of our language, of vvhich the chief defect is ruggedneſs and aſperity, and has left our harſh cadences yet harſher.

    2. Of taste

      Of taste: harshness or sharpness; acridity, tartness.

    3. Of writing

      Of writing: a lack of elegance and refinement; inelegance, roughness.

The neighborhood

Derived

nanoasperity

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for asperity. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA