What's the difference between austere and harsh?

Austere


Definition:

  • () Sour and astringent; rough to the state; having acerbity; as, an austere crab apple; austere wine.
  • () Severe in modes of judging, or living, or acting; rigid; rigorous; stern; as, an austere man, look, life.
  • () Unadorned; unembellished; severely simple.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Since the start of this week, markets have been more cautious, with bond yields in Spain reaching their highest levels in four months on Tuesday amid concern about the scale of the austerity measures being imposed by the government and fears that the country might need a bailout.
  • (2) In a separate exclusive interview , Alexis Tsipras, the increasingly powerful 37-year-old Greek politician now regarded by many as holding the future of the euro in his hands, told the Guardian that he was determined "to stop the experiment" with austerity policies imposed by Germany.
  • (3) He campaigned for a no vote and won handsomely, backed by more than 61%, before performing a striking U-turn on Thursday night, re-tabling the same austerity terms he had campaigned to defeat and which the voters rejected.
  • (4) But that promise was beginning to startle the markets, which admire Monti’s appetite for austerity and fear the free spending and anti-European views of some Italian politicians.
  • (5) Cable argued that the additional £30bn austerity proposed by the chancellor after 2015 went beyond the joint coalition commitment to eradicate the structural part of the UK's current budget deficit – the part of non-investment spending that will not disappear even when the economy has fully emerged from the recession of 2008-09.
  • (6) All of the parties have been trying to use Greece to their advantage.” On Monday, the governing People’s party pointed to the referendum to justify their decision to impose austerity measures during the height of the economic crisis.
  • (7) Greece sincerely had no intention of clashing with its partners, Varoufakis insisted, but the logic of austerity was such that policies conducted in its embrace could only fail.
  • (8) As Greece pleads with its eurozone creditors for more time in meeting its fiscal adjustment targets, Dombrovskis is a fierce champion of surgical austerity applied quickly and ruthlessly.
  • (9) Updated at 12.23pm BST 12.04pm BST As Mariano Rajoy and François Hollande prepare to reveal their austerity budgets (Spain goes on Thursday and France on Friday), they might be forgiven for casting an envious eye towards Australia where government statisticians revealed that the country is A$325bn (£200bn) better off than they'd thought.
  • (10) This proposal is a purely partisan move that will backfire on the government disastrously.” The Green party accused Osborne of making “efforts to limit the democratic scrutiny of his austerity agenda”.
  • (11) The budget red book contained a chart which suggested that the rich were indeed facing a bigger hit than anyone else, and Liberal Democrats were today pointing to this to justify the austerity package.
  • (12) "But if public opposition to further austerity measures hardens, the Greek government could find it even tougher to put the public finances back on a sustainable footing."
  • (13) The austerity programmes administered by western governments in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis were, of course, intended as a remedy, a tough but necessary course of treatment to relieve the symptoms of debts and deficits and to cure recession.
  • (14) In the midst of this catastrophe, the troika is insisting on further austerity to achieve massive primary budget surpluses of 3% in 2015, 4.5% in 2016 and even more in future years.
  • (15) In a Europe (including Britain) where austerity has become the economic dogma of the elite in spite of massive evidence that it is choking growth and worsening the very sickness it claims to heal, there are plenty of rational, sensible arguments for taking to the streets.
  • (16) The Attlee government was toppled by peacetime austerity that voters no longer trusted.
  • (17) After heading for Rome with his long-term partner, Howard Auster, he returned to fiction with a bestselling novel, Julian, based on the life of a late Roman emperor; a political novel, Washington DC, based on his own family; and Myra Breckinridge, a subversive satire that examined contradictions of gender and sexuality with enough comic brio to become a worldwide bestseller.
  • (18) Yesterday, John McDonnell spelled out the new Labour leadership’s public investment-driven economic alternative to austerity.
  • (19) Then Greece has another chance.” But the intervention by the IMF will undermine EU leaders who argue Greece must submit to a fresh round of austerity measures to release funds for debt repayments.
  • (20) The IMF itself came under fire after it admitted in its World Economic Outlook report that officials had underestimated the effects of austerity measures on economic growth.

Harsh


Definition:

  • (a.) Rough; disagreeable; grating
  • (a.) disagreeable to the touch.
  • (a.) disagreeable to the taste.
  • (a.) disagreeable to the ear.
  • (a.) Unpleasant and repulsive to the sensibilities; austere; crabbed; morose; abusive; abusive; severe; rough.
  • (a.) Having violent contrasts of color, or of light and shade; lacking in harmony.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Federal judges who blocked the bans cited harsh rhetoric employed by Trump on the campaign trail , specifically a pledge to ban all Muslims from entering the US and support for giving priority to Christian refugees, as being reflective of the intent behind his travel ban.
  • (2) The first problem facing Calderdale is sheep-rustling Happy Valley – filmed around Hebden Bridge, with its beautiful stone houses straight off the pages of the Guardian’s Lets Move To – may be filled with rolling hills and verdant pastures, but the reality of rural issues are harsh.
  • (3) On referral to our clinic, his physical examination and tape recording were characterized by harsh inspiratory stridor.
  • (4) There are harsh lessons in football and we have learned some over the last week.” Two James Milner penalties and goals from the impressive Adam Lallana, Sadio Mané and Philippe Coutinho took Liverpool’s tally to 24 in eight games.
  • (5) The tougher external environment in 2015 means that our businesses and functions need to work … to take a number of measures in response to the harsh trading environment,” Dudley said, according to a memo reported by Reuters.
  • (6) I couldn't shake the harsh words from my head and worried about if, or when, they would spill over into real life.
  • (7) A former senior CIA official said the secretary of state at the time, Colin Powell, eventually was informed about the program and sat in meetings in which harsh interrogation techniques were discussed.
  • (8) The results indicate the presence of carbohydrate epitopes buried within collagenous polypeptides that are exposed by harsh denaturing conditions.
  • (9) Official papers released by the National Archives show that the "wets" – notably Jim Prior, Peter Walker, Ian Gilmour, Mark Carlisle, Lord Soames and Francis Pym – were able to demonstrate that a majority of the cabinet rejected as unnecessarily harsh Sir Geoffrey Howe's demands for further public spending cuts and tax cuts.
  • (10) We report a case of a 17 year old boy who was referred for evaluation of a large anterior mediastinal mass, causing dyspnea and cough and resulting in a harsh systolic murmur.
  • (11) I appeal to the king of Saudi Arabia to exercise his power to halt the public flogging by pardoning Mr Badawi, and to urgently review this type of extraordinarily harsh penalty.” Badawi’s case was one of several recent prosecutions of activists.
  • (12) • Very robust questioning, known as the harsh approach, could be banned – or if not "the approach should not include an analogy with a military drill sergeant".
  • (13) He said he did not oppose the criminalisation of homosexuality but said imprisonment and the death penalty are too harsh.
  • (14) Fellow opposition activists and sympathisers took the harsh sentence as a sign that heavy jail terms awaited the rest.
  • (15) Pledge news: harsh • 26 Jan , Darragh MacAnthony, Peterborough chairman on the "incredibly harsh" abuse by fans of manager Mark Cooper: "Nobody has given the bloke a chance.
  • (16) But initial fan reaction to the first teaser trailers was harsh.
  • (17) The probability of skin-galvanic reaction appearance was harshly decreased.
  • (18) Offshore detention with increased isolation in remote and harsh circumstances exaggerates that adversity.
  • (19) Pictures of the concentration camps served to reinforce the necessity of the war and its unavoidably harsh economic legacy.
  • (20) If you're in doubt of the impact this can have, "brand imagery" studies show that when participants smoke the exact same cigarettes presented in lighter coloured packs, or in packs with "mild" in the name, they rate the smoke as lighter and less harsh, simply through the power of suggestion.