What's the difference between dour and harsh?

Dour


Definition:

  • (a.) Hard; inflexible; obstinate; sour in aspect; hardy; bold.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Reports from the scenes of Muslim Brotherhood and Freedom and Justice Party rallies conveyed a dour mood in Cairo, while active clashes were reported in both coastal cities and upper Egypt.
  • (2) There’s hard work and dour activities and that’s what I’m going to be doing.” Corbyn and his deputy, Tom Watson , are expected to make regular – and more public – visits to Scotland to help Scottish Labour avoid a further rout at next May’s Holyrood elections; the latest opinion polls suggest the SNP is on course to win a second successive overall majority with its approval ratings at more than 50%.
  • (3) However, as we watch Blade Runner , Deckard doesn’t feel like a replicant; he is dour and unengaged, but lacks his victims’ detached innocence, their staccato puzzlement at their own untrained feelings.
  • (4) Reith, “his dour handsome face scarred like that of a villain in a melodrama”, was “a strange shepherd for such a mixed, bohemian flock … he had under his aegis a bevy of ex-soldiers, ex-actors, ex-adventurers which … even a Dartmoor prison governor might have had difficulty in controlling”.
  • (5) The dour Zenawi could not resist a swipe at western pundits who had once written off Africa.
  • (6) A spectacular fall from grace on the pitch – from first to seventh, playing dour football that is anathema to fans who feasted on success throughout the Ferguson era – will also lead to renewed scrutiny of the club's controversial US owners, the Glazer family , away from it.
  • (7) The seafront was grey and almost deserted; outside the dour concrete venue, there was a single delegate having a blustery cigarette.
  • (8) But it was in westerns that Peck's dour integrity showed itself best: unshaven and tough in Yellow Sky (1948); a dude learning to adapt to the west in The Big Country (1958); and obsessively after the men who raped and killed his wife in The Bravados (1958).
  • (9) On Tuesday, the bunkhouse breakfast room felt like a hunting lodge, with wives and girlfriends serving meals while working-class men with beards, flannel shirts and dour expressions milled about.
  • (10) Milosevic himself, until then a dour and orthodox communist, appeared to realise his gift for rhetoric and the power of nationalism.
  • (11) Saki (Hector Hugh Munro, 1870-1916) was raised by his strict, dour aunts and grandmother, and was gay but closeted all his life – for good reason, since homosexual acts between men were still illegal.
  • (12) Fun is fun, and please don't try and stop people having fun, things are dour enough as it is."
  • (13) Because there is no ‘message’ – there’s just Jeremy!” Membership Event: Guardian Live | The future of Labour: meet the next leader By the end of the night, even the dour stewards were applauding.
  • (14) This late action made the preceding dour fare seem all the more disappointing.
  • (15) We were told he would be the dour, humourless lefty; and again he has been a challenge to expectations.
  • (16) We talk some more about Mad Men , about: "The swirl and sound and fury of it… For a show that is as dour and moody and pendulous as ours, we have fun."
  • (17) George averaged only 14.5 points and six rebounds in the first two games of the series and started slowly against on Friday before gathering pace in the dour encounter.
  • (18) The two TV presenters broadcasting from the crowd – she in a gold-spangled minidress and rigid curls, him dour in black tie – shot baleful looks in his direction as he carried on honking.
  • (19) Murray is a bit dour true to his Scottish nature but he is an excellent player.
  • (20) Jeremy Corbyn conceded that it would not be easy to revive Labour’s position in Scotland but promised “hard work and dour activities” as he made his first visit to the nation since his election as party leader.

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.