harshness

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

There’s often a clarifying, poignant harshness in the losses they depict.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 24, 2026

To assess excessive punishment claims, Colorado courts begin by comparing “the gravity or seriousness of the offense to the harshness of the penalty.”

From Slate • Dec. 29, 2025

Without discounting the harshness of that imposed acculturation, he thanked what it gained him rather than resenting the means.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025

This is a place where players have to roll up their sleeves and get on with it despite the golfing environment's stark harshness.

From BBC • Jun. 9, 2025

With a harshness of accent not usually his, he said, “I shall relate a fable.”

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson