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Baleful vs Severe - What's the difference?

baleful | severe | Related terms |

Baleful is a related term of severe.


As adjectives the difference between baleful and severe

is that baleful is portending evil; ominous while severe is severe, harsh.

baleful

English

Alternative forms

* balefull (archaic)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Portending evil; ominous.
  • * 1674 -- John Milton: )
    • round he throws his baleful eyes, that witnessed huge affliction and dismay.
  • * 1873 ,
    • The street-lamps burn amid the baleful glooms,
    Amidst the soundless solitudes immense
    Of ranged mansions dark and still as tombs.
  • Miserable, wretched, distressed, suffering.

    • severe

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Very bad or intense.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
    • , author=Donald Worster , title=A Drier and Hotter Future , volume=100, issue=1, page=70 , magazine= citation , passage=Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.}}
  • Strict or harsh.
  • Sober, plain in appearance, austere.

    • Synonyms

    * brutal * extreme * hard * harsh * intense * rigorous * serious

    Antonyms

    * (very bad or intense) mild * (very bad or intense) minor * (strict or harsh) lenient

    Derived terms

    * severely (adverb) * severity (noun) * severeness (noun)

    External links

    * * *

    Anagrams

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