1
as in bitterness
a harsh or sharp quality
doesn't like the asperity of most experimental music
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2
as in severity
biting sharpness of feeling or expression
she responded with such asperity that we knew she was deeply offended by the question
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3
as in hardship
something that is a cause for suffering or special effort especially in the attainment of a goal
as a physically challenged person, he has encountered more than his share of asperities on the road to success
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Recent Examples of asperity
Robin Waterfield’s Aesop’s Fables: A New Translation (Basic Books, $30) renders them in all their feral, fatalistic glory—bursts of Hobbesian asperity with dubious, sometimes conflicting, morals.
—
Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 22 Aug. 2024
Advertisement On a re-read, Orwell’s narrative holds up, in large part due to the asperity of the prose and the prescient description of how fascism can creep into any society that takes freedom for granted.
—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2023
Her asperity has brought upon her the full flaming rage of the Twittersphere.
—Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 2 Oct. 2022
By the time Keane wrote Devoted Ladies, a note of asperity had crept into her fiction.
—Francine Prose, The New York Review of Books, 22 Nov. 2018
Imagine Don Draper’s grasp of American psychopathology delivered with the pithy asperity of Emily Dickinson.
—Megan O’Grady, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2020
Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 22 Aug. 2024
Advertisement On a re-read, Orwell’s narrative holds up, in large part due to the asperity of the prose and the prescient description of how fascism can creep into any society that takes freedom for granted.
—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2023
Her asperity has brought upon her the full flaming rage of the Twittersphere.
—Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 2 Oct. 2022
By the time Keane wrote Devoted Ladies, a note of asperity had crept into her fiction.
—Francine Prose, The New York Review of Books, 22 Nov. 2018
Imagine Don Draper’s grasp of American psychopathology delivered with the pithy asperity of Emily Dickinson.
—Megan O’Grady, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for asperity
Noun
-
The Tower is not always an omen of hardship and struggle.—
Meghan Rose,
Glamour,
1 June 2025
-
Vidal Banuelos said the restaurant never recovered from the financial hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic.—
Tiney Ricciardi,
Denver Post,
28 May 2025
Noun
-
In a Venezuelan election, running as an incumbent gives you the sort of edge that any unscrupulous and power-hungry leader around the world can only fantasize about.—
Antonio Maria Delgado,
Miami Herald,
3 June 2025
-
The water instead rolls down the fly and through the lower mesh edge, onto the exterior tub floor fabric and onto the ground.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
2 June 2025
Noun
-
Vaccinations remain the best way to prevent coronavirus infection and lower the risk of subsequent long COVID by reducing the severity of the initial infection and immune response.—
The Washington Post,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 May 2025
-
Pete Smith, a professor of plant and soil science at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, told me in an interview that poor soil management can also increase the severity of sand and dust storms.—
Sanam Mahoozi,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2025
Noun
-
These disruptions and the resulting symptoms like headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, difficulty concentrating, memory lapses, balance issues, sensitivity to light and noise and personality changes can last minutes to days to even weeks and months.—
Bruce Y. Lee,
Forbes.com,
31 May 2025
-
The difficulty is that anger doesn't get to be carried out by taking out a handgun and shooting at three teenagers.—
Christine Pelisek,
People.com,
30 May 2025
Noun
-
The young girl took a bite of the guacamole and flashed a thumbs up.—
Raven Brunner,
People.com,
26 May 2025
-
While there is a timeline for all the moving parts of the day from guest arrivals to late-night bites at the after-party, planners need to be ready for anything.—
Shelby Wax,
Vogue,
25 May 2025
Noun
-
Over the nearly 20 months since the hostilities began, Colin Clarke said there has been a radicalization effect in the U.S., particularly of the political left.—
Odette Yousef,
NPR,
28 May 2025
-
Opposition to the war became hostility toward our own military.—
Arthur I. Cyr,
Chicago Tribune,
27 May 2025
Noun
-
The results revealed that pla depletion decreases the virulence and increases the length of plague infections in mice.—
Sam Walters,
Discover Magazine,
31 May 2025
-
The diminished virulence that the pathogen evolved in response to more of its hosts dying potentially caused these earlier plague pandemics to fizzle out.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
29 May 2025
Noun
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The third element of the trio is Mary Flynn, played by the terrific Lindsey Mendez, a 2018 Tony winner for Carousel, with a natural warmth that offsets the character’s growing acerbity.—
David Rooney,
The Hollywood Reporter,
12 Dec. 2022
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The Brodie books demonstrate her great facility with genre, pairing pulse-quickening suspense with Atkinson’s distinctive blend of puckishness and acerbity.—
Sarah Chihaya,
The New Yorker,
16 Oct. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Asperity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/asperity. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.
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