Dictionary

oversevere en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˌəʊvəˈsɪˈvɪə/ (UK)
• /ˌəʊvəˈsɪˈvɪɹ/ (US)

Etymology

From over- + severe.

Meanings

1. (rare) Excessively severe.
   • From her girlish days, Lady Jane was permitted, by her fond, yet oversevere parents, to mix with a few of the intimate friends of the family. 1822, Francis Charles Laird, Lady Jane Grey, and Her Times, Sherwood, Neely and Jones, page 125:
   • If the Senate amendments prevail the alien would find himself caught between two fires. He must register if he is an alien; he must pass an oversevere educational test if he wishes to become a citizen. 1865, Francis Charles Laird, The Nation, J.H. Richards, pages 718–719:
   • Companies, by often imposing oversevere tasks on their men, oblige them to use every subterfuge in order to meet the imjust exigencies of their employers. 1817, United States Government Printing Office, United States Congressional Serial Set, U.S. G.P.O., page 343:
   • This is not an unjust or oversevere commentary; let any reasonable reader inspect the publications of the vers-libre poets, the exhibitions of cubist sculpture and futurist painting, the productions of the disciples of the new art of the theater and decide that point for himself. 1920, The Saturday Evening Post, G. Graham, page 22:
   • "I cannot help hoping that you are oversevere," said Miss Corbet. 1858, Catherine Grace F . Gore, Heckington, Hurst and Blackett Publishers, page 129:

Forms

Deriveds

overseverely