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Austerity vs Severity - What's the difference?

austerity | severity |

As nouns the difference between austerity and severity

is that austerity is severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline while severity is the state of being severe.

austerity

English

Noun

  • Severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline.
  • Freedom from adornment; plainness; severe simplicity.
  • (economics) A policy of deficit-cutting, which by definition requires lower spending, higher taxes, or both.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=April 23 , author=Angelique Chrisafis , title=François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=He said France clearly wanted to "close one page and open another". He reiterated his opposition to austerity alone as the only way out of Europe's crisis: "My final duty, and I know I'm being watched from beyond our borders, is to put Europe back on the path of growth and employment."}}
  • (obsolete) Sourness and harshness to the taste.

    • Antonyms

    * (severity of manners or life) comfort

    Related terms

    * austere * austerely

    References

    *

    severity

    English

    Noun

    (severities)
  • The state of being severe.
  • The degree of something undesirable; badness or seriousness.
    • The severity of the offence merits a long prison sentence.