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.

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

Far from rosy, the emotionally layered mother-daughter dynamic is laced with both believable harshness and unconditional devotion, creating a portrayal that makes the depiction of childhood in most American family-oriented films feel simplistic.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2024

Both his affability and his harshness compelled others as they did me; and he hath been admitted into a great variety of circles of friendship and amity that remain generally closed.

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