Contents -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Mawson, C.O.S., ed. (1870–1938). Roget’s International Thesaurus. 1922.

Class V. Words Releasing to the Voluntary Powers
Division (II) Intersocial Volition
Section I. General Intersocial Volition

739. Severity.

   NOUN:SEVERITY; strictness, harshness &c. adj.; rigor, stringency, austerity; inclemency (pitilessness) [See Pitilessness] arrogance [See Insolence]; precisianism, formalism.
  ARBITRARY POWER; absolutism, despotism; dictatorship, autocracy, tyranny, domineering, domination, oppression; assumption, usurpation; inquisition, reign of terror, martial law; iron -heel, – rule, – hand, – sway; tight grasp; brute -force, – strength; coercion [See Compulsion]; strong -, tight- hand.
  BUREAUCRACY, red-tapism, pipe-clay, officialism; hard -lines, – measure; tender mercies [ironical]; sharp practice.
  TYRANT, disciplinarian, precisian, martinet, stickler, bashaw, despot, the Grand Panjandrum himself, hard master, Draco, oppressor, inquisitor, extortioner, harpy, vulture; Accipitres, Raptores, raptors [obs.], birds of prey.
   VERB:BE SEVERE &c. adj.
  ARROGATE, assume, usurp, take liberties; domineer, bully [See Insolence]; tyrannize; wrest the law to one’s advantage; inflict, wreak, stretch a point, put on the screw; be hard upon; bear -, lay- a heavy hand on; be down upon [slang], come down upon [colloq.]; illtreat; deal hardly with, deal hard measure to; rule with a rod of iron, chastise with scorpions; dye with blood; oppress, override; trample -, tread- -down, – upon, – under foot; crush under an iron heel, ride roughshod over; rivet the yoke; hold -, keep- a tight hand; force down the throat; coerce [See Compulsion]; give no quarter (pitiless) [See Pitilessness]
   ADJECTIVE:SEVERE; strict, hard, harsh, dour [Scot.], rigid, stiff, stern, rigorous, uncompromising, exacting, exigent, exigeant [F.], inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, austere, hard-headed, hard-shell [colloq., U. S.], relentless, Spartan, Draconian, stringent, strict, prudish, precise, puritanical, strait-laced, searching, unsparing, ironhanded, peremptory, absolute, positive, arbitrary, imperative; coercive [See Compulsion]; tyrannical, extortionate, grinding, withering, oppressive, inquisitorial; inclement (ruthless) [See Pitilessness] cruel (malevolent) [See Malevolence]; haughty, arrogant [See Insolence]; precisian, formal, punctilious.
   ADVERB:SEVERELY &c. adj.; with a -high, – strong, – tight, – heavy- hand.
  at the point of the -sword, – bayonet.
   QUOTATIONS:

1. Quidquid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi.—Horace
2. Manu forti.
3. Ogni debole ha sempre il suo tiranno.
4. The King’s argument was that anything that had a head could be beheaded.—Carroll