H'ARSHNESS, noun Roughness to the touch; opposed to softness and smoothness. 1. Sourness; austereness; as the harshness of fruit. 2. Roughness to the ear; as the harshness of sound or of a voice, or of verse. 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense, The sound must seem an echo to the sense. 3. Roughness of temper; moroseness; crabbedness; peevishness. 4. Roughness in manner or words; severity; as the harshness of reproof.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI