What's the difference between dour and severe?

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.

Severe


Definition:

  • (superl.) Serious in feeeling or manner; sedate; grave; austere; not light, lively, or cheerful.
  • (superl.) Very strict in judgment, discipline, or government; harsh; not mild or indulgent; rigorous; as, severe criticism; severe punishment.
  • (superl.) Rigidly methodical, or adherent to rule or principle; exactly conformed to a standard; not allowing or employing unneccessary ornament, amplification, etc.; strict; -- said of style, argument, etc.
  • (superl.) Sharp; afflictive; distressing; violent; extreme; as, severe pain, anguish, fortune; severe cold.
  • (superl.) Difficult to be endured; exact; critical; rigorous; as, a severe test.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) We used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify the breakpoint area of alpha-thalassemia-1 of Southeast Asia type and several parts of the alpha-globin gene cluster to make a differential diagnosis between alpha-thalassemia-1 and Hb Bart's hydrops fetalis.
  • (2) The newborn with critical AS typically presents with severe cardiac failure and the infant with moderate failure, whereas children may be asymptomatic.
  • (3) The low affinity of several N1-alkylpyrroleethylamines suggests that the benzene portion of the alpha-methyltryptamines is necessary for significant affinity.
  • (4) The main clinical features pertaining to the concept of the "psycho-organic syndrome" (POS) were investigated in a sample of children who suffered from severe craniocerebral trauma.
  • (5) The rise of malaria despite of control measures involves several factors: the house spraying is no more accepted by a large percentage of house holders and the alternative larviciding has only a limited efficacy; the houses of American Indians have no walls to be sprayed; there is a continuous introduction of parasites by migrants.
  • (6) Collins said she asked Sullivan several questions, including who the women were.
  • (7) Single-case experimental designs are presented and discussed from several points of view: Historical antecedents, assessment of the dependent variable, internal and external validity and pre-experimental vs experimental single-case designs.
  • (8) During and after the infusion of 5HTP, none of the patients showed an increase in anxiety or depressive symptoms, despite the presence of severe side effects.
  • (9) Histological studies showed that the resulting pancreatitis was usually mild to moderate, being severe only in association with sepsis.
  • (10) An “out” vote would severely disrupt our lives, in an economic sense and a private sense.
  • (11) No consistent relationship could be found between the time interval from SAH to operation and the severity of vasospasm.
  • (12) Also we found that the lipid deposition in the glomeruli of patients with Alagille syndrome is related to an abnormal lipid metabolism, which is the consequence of severe cholestasis.
  • (13) Sixteen patients in whom schizophrenia was initially diagnosed and who were treated with fluphenazine enanthate or decanoate developed severe depression for a short period after the injection.
  • (14) Concentrations of several gastrointestinal hormonal peptides were measured in lymph from the cisterna chyli and in arterial plasma; in healthy, conscious pigs during ingestion of a meal.
  • (15) In addition to the changes associated with blood group A, we also found a decrease in sugar content, alterations in other antigens, and changes in the levels of several glycosyltransferases in cancerous tissues.
  • (16) Based on several previous studies, which demonstrated that sorbitol accumulation in human red blood cells (RBCs) was a function of ambient glucose concentrations, either in vitro or in vivo, our investigations were conducted to determine if RBC sorbitol accumulation would correlate with sorbitol accumulation in lens and nerve tissue of diabetic rats; the effect of sorbinil in reducing sorbitol levels in lens and nerve tissue of diabetic rats would be reflected by changes in RBC sorbitol; and sorbinil would reduce RBC sorbitol in diabetic man.
  • (17) The severity and site of hypertrophy is important in determining the clinical picture and the natural history of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).
  • (18) After a discussion of the therapeutic relationship, several coping strategies which have been used successfully by many women are described and therapeutic applications are offered.
  • (19) To clarify the functional roles of His40, Glu58, and His92, we analyzed the consequences of several amino acid substitutions (His40Ala, His40Lys, His40Asp, Glu58Ala, Glu58Gln, and His92Gln) on the kinetics of GpC transesterification.
  • (20) Moreover, in DCVC-treated cells the mitochondria could not be stained with rhodamine-123, indicating severe mitochondrial damage and loss of membrane potential.