asperity
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
Etymology: From Middle English asprete, asperite, from Old French aspreté (modern French âpreté), from Latin asperitātem, the accusative singular of asperitās (“roughness, unevenness; fierceness, severity; harshness, sharpness; acidity, tartness”), from asper (“coarse, rough, uneven; bitter, fierce harsh; rude, unrefined; etc.”) (probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₂esp- (“to cut”)) + -itās (a variant of -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being)). The spelling of the English word is influenced directly by Latin asperitātem. Doublet of asperitas.
Inflected forms:
form: asperities
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: The quality of having a rough or uneven surface; roughness, unevenness; (countable, chiefly in the plural) a protruding or rough area or point on a surface; a protrusion.
pos: noun
tags: formal
uncountable
examples: Oyle of ſwete Almondes and of ſiſami taketh away the aſperitie and rougheneſſe of the throte.
The iuyce of Mynte mengled with honied water, cureth the payne of the eares being dropped therein, and taketh away the aſperitie, and roughneſſe of the tongue, whan it is rubbed or waſſhed therewith.
[I]f Man vvere out of the vvorld, vvho vvere then left […] to vievv the aſperityes of the Moon through a Dioptrick-glaſſe, and venture at the Proportion of her Hills by their ſhadovves[…]?
This Iſland [Corsica] has ever been ill Inhabited, by reaſon of the Aſperity of a great part of it, and the great difficulty of approaching it.
The genius of a people vvhere nothing but the monarchy is ſalique, having ceded this department, vvith ſundry others, totally to the vvomen—by a continual higgling vvith cuſtomers of all ranks and ſizes from morning to night, like ſo many rough pebbles ſhook long together in a bag, by amicable colliſions, they have vvorn dovvn their aſperities and ſharp angles, and not only become round and ſmooth, but vvill receive, ſome of them, a poliſh like a brilliant— […]
A match flickers, a lantern lights up the asperities of the mud wall; the window goes black.
A slip-line field analysis is given for the deformation of a soft asperity by a hard one and equations are derived for the corresponding coefficients of friction and wear rates.
gloss: The quality of having a rough or uneven surface; roughness, unevenness; (countable, chiefly in the plural) a protruding or rough area or point on a surface; a protrusion.
pos: noun
tags: countable
formal
examples: We inferred that the locking of asperities did cause higher stresses associated with earthquake cycle itself to occur in areas adjacent to asperities, both updip and downdip from them, and that such stressing has been much less pronounced in the areas adjacent to non-asperities.
Since rapid permanent plate shortening is not observed in subduction zones, there must be either strain release over a large region or strain accumulation over a small region over earthquake cycles. […] The most likely mechanism for the latter is the accumulation of elastic strain around isolated locked asperities of the fault, which requires significant aseismic fault slip between asperities.
The model to explain the seismicity variation along the fault boundaries considers that plate boundaries consist of asperities and barriers having different friction laws. These asperities are distributed in a fractal manner and each fault contains small and large asperities.
gloss: The quality of being difficult or unpleasant to experience; (countable) a thing that is harsh and difficult to endure; a difficulty, a hardship.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
formal
uncountable
examples: the asperity of Maine’s winter
If the faith were in our daies as feruēt [fervent] as it hath bene ere this, in tyme before passed, litle counſayle and litle comfort would ſuffice. We ſhould not muche nede with wordes and reaſoning, to extenuate and minyſh the vygour and aſperitie of the paynes, but the greatter ⁊ the more bitter that the paſſion wer, the more ready was of olde tyme the feruor of faith to ſuffer it.
[O]ur Savior ſeemeth to have affected ſo much, the inviſcerating this diſpoſition in our hearts, as he claimeth the firſt introduction of this precept, to recommend it to us, as a ſpecial property of his miſſion, that the kindneſs to his perſon might ſvveeten the aſperity of the command, […]
VVhence comes it, that in Chriſtendome there has been, almoſt from the time of the Apoſtles, ſuch juſtling of one another out of their places, both by forraign, and Civill war? ſuch ſtumbling at every little aſperity of their ovvn fortune, and every little eminence of that of other men?
And ſurely, if vve are not conſcious that vve have contributed to our ovvn ſufferings, if puniſhment fall upon innocence, or diſappointment happens to induſtry and prudence; patience, vvhether more neceſſary or not, is much eaſier; ſince our pain is then vvithout aggravation, and vve have not the bitterneſs of remorſe to add to the aſperity of misfortune.
The nakedneſs and aſperity of vvintry nature alvvays fills the beholder vvith penſive and profound aſtoniſhment: […]
Whether the probability of escaping from the consequences of this ill-timed discovery was delightful to the spinster's feelings, or whether the hearing herself described as a "lovely woman" softened the asperity of her grief, we know not.
Dry, chaffy, or prickly plants, corresponding in their nature to the aridity and asperity of the land, were peculiarly at home upon the undulating stoniness.
gloss: The quality of being harsh or severe in the way one behaves or speaks toward another person; (countable, chiefly in the plural) a deeply hostile or resentful feeling; an animosity, a hatred.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
formal
uncountable
examples: But leaſt he ſhoulde offend the Iewes with the aſperitie of the word, if hee had ſaid that the lawe was dead, hee vſed a digreſſion, or deflection, ſaying, we are dead to the law.
[H]e [God] vvill reprove them ſharply for their uncharitable bitterneſs one againſt another, and menace them even vvith deſtruction, if they leave not off their animoſities and aſperities of mind about toys and trifles, and hold faſt to the Royal Lavv of Love […]
The animadverſions of critics are commonly ſuch as may eaſily provoke the ſedateſt vvriter to ſome quickneſs of reſentment and aſperity of reply.
[…] I ſee not that you can blame any aſperity in Her, vvhom you have ſo largely contributed to make unhappy.
But here he was set right by Mrs. Bennet, who assured him with some asperity that they were very well able to keep a good cook, and that her daughters had nothing to do in the kitchen.
Mr. Nickleby looked very indignant at the handmaid on being thus corrected, and demanded with much asperity what she meant; […]
'Don't be daft, Heaslop.' / 'Yes, sir, I mean, no, sir,' the aide stuttered. 'I mean, I didn't mean that, sir.' / 'Well, what did you mean?' / Sir Richard's asperity invariably made the young man more nervous.
The Supreme Court majority objected with some asperity to the suggestion by the dissenters that their judgment put the president above the law. But what other construction can be put upon their words? If there is no remedy against the president, then there is no law binding on him.
gloss: Of sound: gratingness, harshness.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
figuratively
formal
uncountable
examples: [T]he importunate, harſh and diſharmonious Coaxations of Frogs, (ſo called in the Greek from that very ungratefull noiſe, […] from the ſhrilneſs and aſperity of the noiſe they make) […]
[John] Miltonm therefore ſeems to have ſomevvhat miſtaken the nature of our language, of vvhich the chief defect is ruggedneſs and aſperity, and has left our harſh cadences yet harſher.
gloss: Of taste: harshness or sharpness; acridity, tartness.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
figuratively
formal
uncountable
examples: [T]he aſperity of tartarous ſalts, and the fiery acrimony of alcaline ſalts, irritating and vvounding the nerves, produce naſcent paſſions and anxieties in the ſoul; vvhich both aggravate diſtempers, and render men's lives reſtleſs and vvretched, even vvhen they are afflicted vvith no apparent diſtemper.
gloss: Of writing: a lack of elegance and refinement; inelegance, roughness.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
figuratively
formal
uncountable
Related words: asperitas
asperous
exasperate
Derived words: nanoasperity
Translations:
lang: Catalan
word: aspror
lang: Catalan
word: aspresa
lang: French
word: aspérité
lang: Middle French
word: aspreté
lang: Galician
word: aspereza
lang: Italian
word: asprezza
lang: Italian
word: asperità
lang: Italian
word: asprità
lang: Portuguese
word: aspereza
lang: Portuguese
word: asperidade
lang: Romanian
word: asperitate
lang: Romanian
word: asprime
lang: Spanish
word: aspereza