asperity
American Heritage Dictionary:
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as·per·i·ty
(ă-spĕr'ĭ-tē) 
n., pl., -ties.
n., pl., -ties.
- Roughness or harshness, as of surface, sound, or climate: the asperity of northern winters.
- Severity; rigor.
- A slight projection from a surface; a point or bump.
- Harshness of manner; ill temper or irritability.
[Middle English asperite, from Old French asprete, from Latin asperitās, from asper, rough.]
Word Overheard by Answers.com:
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asperity
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, no softie herself, accuses US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of speaking with asperity (a harsh manner). But doesn't this seem appropriate when talking about terrorist groups and states?
"Condi doesn't want to talk to Hezbollah or its sponsors, Syria and Iran — 'Syria knows what it needs to do,' she says with asperity — and she doesn't want a cease-fire. She wants 'a sustainable cease-fire'..."
Link: Condi's Flying Dutchman - New York Times
Posted July 23, 2006.
See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words. 
Roget's Thesaurus:
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asperity
noun
- Something that obstructs progress and requires great effort to overcome: difficulty, hardship, rigor, vicissitude (often used in plural). Idioms: ahardtoughnut to crack, ahardtoughrow to hoe, heavy sledding. See easy/hard.
Antonyms by Answers.com:
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asperity
n
Definition: meanness; bad temper
Antonyms: calmness, happiness, kindness, mildness
Word Tutor:
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asperity
IN BRIEF: Sharpness; toughness.
Harriet's words were full of asperity.
LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Asperity
 |
Look up asperity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Asperity may refer to:
As a name
- Asperity Employee Benefits; a global provider of Employee Benefit programs headquartered in New York & London
- Asperity Mountain; mountain in British Columbia, Canada
- MV Asperity, a British coaster in service 1945-67
In language
- asperity a word for 'harshness of temper', or 'something difficult to endure'
- Asperity (materials science); the unevenness of a surface, in physics and in seismology
- Asperity (Geotechnical engineering); as used in Geotechnical engineering
- Cultural asperity; the resistance to change in organisations
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This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
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Asperity
Dansk (Danish)
n. - strenghed, hårdhed, barskhed
Nederlands (Dutch)
kribbigheid, ruw woord, ruwheid, scherpe uitwas, ruw oppervlak, raspend geluid
Français (French)
n. - aspérité, rudesse, rigueurs (npl)
Deutsch (German)
n. - Härte, Rauheit
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - τραχύτητα, δριμύτητα
Italiano (Italian)
asprezza, rigore
Português (Portuguese)
n. - aspereza (f), severidade (f), rigor (m)
Русский (Russian)
неровность, шероховатость
Español (Spanish)
n. - aspereza
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kärvhet, skärpa
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
严酷, 刻薄, 粗暴
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 嚴酷, 刻薄, 粗暴
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 荒々しさ, きびしさ, 手ざわりの荒さ, 辛辣な言葉
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) قسوه, خشونه, حده
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - גסות, חספוס, קושי, קשיחות
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Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Roget's Thesaurus
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Wikipedia on Answers.com
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Asperity.
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