different between afflictive vs severe

English

Etymology

afflict +? -ive

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?kt?v

Adjective

afflictive (comparative more afflictive, superlative most afflictive)

1. That causes physical or mental pain.
   • 1716, Thomas Browne, Christian Morals, 2nd edition edited by Samuel Johnson, London: J. Payne, 1756, Part I, p. 44,^[1]

     […] we consider not sufficiently the good of evils, nor fairly compute the mercies of PROVIDENCE in things afflictive at first hand.

   • 1718, Alexander Pope (translator), The Iliad of Homer, London: Bernard Lintot, Volume 4, Book 14, p. 96,^[2]

     All this from Jove’s afflictive Hand we bear:

     Who, far from Argos, wills our Ruin here.

   • 1718, Matthew Prior “Henry and Emma” in Poems on Several Occasions, London: Jacob Tonson, p. 229,^[3]

     But canst Thou, tender Maid, canst Thou sustain

     Afflictive Want, or Hunger’s pressing Pain?

   • 1847, Anne Brontë (pseudonym Acton Bell), Agnes Grey, Chapter 3,^[4]

     In my childhood I could not imagine a more afflictive punishment than for my mother to refuse to kiss me at night: the very idea was terrible.

Derived terms

• afflictively

Translations

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.flik.tiv/
• Homophone: afflictives

Adjective

afflictive

1. feminine singular of afflictif

English

Etymology

From Middle French, from Latin severus (“severe, serious, grave in demeanor”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /s??v??/ (US) IPA^(key): /s??v?r/
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Adjective

severe (comparative severer or more severe, superlative severest or most severe)

1. Very bad or intense.
2. Strict or harsh.

   a severe taskmaster

3. Sober, plain in appearance, austere.

   a severe old maiden aunt

Synonyms

Antonyms

• (very bad or intense): mild
• (very bad or intense): minor
• (strict or harsh): lenient

Derived terms

• severely (adverb)
• severity (noun)
• severeness (noun)

Translations

Further reading

• severe in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• severe in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• severe at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Reeves, everse, reeves, servee

Esperanto

Adverb

severe

1. severely

Related terms

• severa

Italian

Adjective

severe

1. feminine plural of severo

Latin

Verb

s?v?re

1. third-person plural perfect active indicative of ser?

Adjective

sev?re

1. vocative masculine singular of sev?rus

References

• severe in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• severe in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• severe in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

severe (Cyrillic spelling ??????)

1. vocative singular of sever