(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.
Soften
Definition:
(v. t.) To make soft or more soft.
(v. t.) To render less hard; -- said of matter.
(v. t.) To mollify; to make less fierce or intractable.
(v. t.) To palliate; to represent as less enormous; as, to soften a fault.
(v. t.) To compose; to mitigate; to assuage.
(v. t.) To make less harsh, less rude, less offensive, or less violent, or to render of an opposite quality.
(v. t.) To make less glaring; to tone down; as, to soften the coloring of a picture.
(v. t.) To make tender; to make effeminate; to enervate; as, troops softened by luxury.
(v. t.) To make less harsh or grating, or of a quality the opposite; as, to soften the voice.
(v. i.) To become soft or softened, or less rude, harsh, severe, or obdurate.
Example Sentences:
(1) The other trend involved softening from penetrant liquid absorption and a concomitant decrease in hardness.
(2) Golding said the government would not soften its stance on drug trafficking and it intended to use a proportion of revenues from its licensing authority to support a public education campaign to discourage pot-smoking by young people and mitigate public health consequences.
(3) Pathologically, there was diffuse incomplete softening of white matter in all cases.
(4) Aware that her press secretary, Bernard Ingham, a former labour correspondent for the Guardian who understood the range of attitudes within trade unions, had tried to soften the impression that she saw Kinnock as another General Galtieri [Argentina’s president during the Falklands war], the draft text tried to distinguish between unions, rival parties and what the final text (the one she actually delivered) called “an organised revolutionary minority” with their “outmoded Marxist dogma about class warfare”.
(5) Add the onion, cook for three minutes, stirring, until softened, then add the wine, sage, lemon peel, lemon juice and 150ml water.
(6) Welfare cuts are now becoming a matter of life or death | Letters Read more But government sources suggested the political pressures on Osborne, who has been criticised publicly by a series of Tory MPs, suggest he will act more flexibly and direct substantial resources to softening the impact of the cuts.
(7) Moisture on the skin was shown to increase the discharge to a standard stimulus, probably by its softening effect on the stratum corneum.
(8) The importance of R for cervical softening during pregnancy and its interaction with E near term and during parturition are discussed.
(9) He and Cameron have spent the week softening up opinion for huge benefit cuts in next week’s budget , due to focus on tax credits, largely paid to in-work, ”hardworking” families, victims of Britain’s swelling ranks of the under-paid.
(10) The method of aspiration with a standard electric operative aspirator should be used for evacuation of the softened brain matter.
(11) But he also suggested the administration was softening its commitment to the Minsk framework for a deal.
(12) In a casserole over a medium heat, fry the onions in the oil and butter for 5 minutes, to soften.
(13) Its lines soften, its edges fade; it shrinks into the raw cold from the river, more like a shrouded mountain than a castle built for kings.
(14) The wizened fish is hammered with a mallet to soften it so you can pull it off in strips to eat.
(15) The substitution of the softeners with deionisers solved this important and unusual clinical problem.
(16) Softening and elution are not sufficient for constriction, however, since high potassium, 2,4-dinitrophenol, and cyanide inhibited constriction without inhibiting the softening or elution of axoplasm.
(17) Ribotyping patterns of aeromonads recovered from well 1, detention basin, sand filter, softener, and distribution samples were compared with those of the five clinical isolates.
(18) By softening these insects in a detergent solution, however, it is possible to make most observations in the same way as on fresh material.
(19) His and Osborne's post-election "softening up" is returning to haunt them.
(20) But recently, their attitude has softened as they realise the importance of music to the island.