Make Your Point: ASPERITY

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pronounce ASPERITY:

uh SPARE uh tee

connect this word to others:

(Source)

People with rough, tough, harsh manners say or do things with asperity, another word for roughness. Here, Chef Ramsay critiques the fish with asperity.

See if you can recall a close relative of asperity. When someone annoys you so much that your manners become rough in response, they've e_asper__ed you.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

The word "asperity" traces back through French to the Latin asper, meaning "rough or harsh."

In English, it first meant "physical roughness, ruggedness, or bumpiness," and people talked about the asperity of a cat's tongue, or the asperities on the surface of the moon.

Over time, the meaning became abstract. Today, asperity is usually roughness in the way someone talks, writes, or acts.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, often the uncountable kind: "She speaks with asperity;" "He performed as Scrooge with all the asperity we were expecting."

Sometimes the countable kind: "I'm put off by her asperities;" "Empathy softens Scrooge's asperities."

Other forms:

The plural noun is "asperities."

The adjective and adverb are very rare, so I don't recommend using them: "asperous" and "asperously." How about "rough" and "roughly" instead?

how to use it:

When you need to sound formal and academic, instead of talking about the "roughness" or "meanness" of someone's voice or manners, you can talk about their "asperity."

You could say that someone speak, writes, comments, or responds with asperity, meaning they're treating their listener or their subject harshly. Or say that someone sings with asperity: with a rough, harsh, rugged voice. Or say that some actor brings asperity to the character they're playing.

examples:

"A woman came up to [the playwright] Butterworth after a performance, rapped him on the shoulder, and said, 'What happens to the family?' When he told her he didn't know, she replied, with asperity, 'Yeah, I thought so.'"
— Cynthia Zarin, The New Yorker, 24 January 2019

"Because of his combative language... Dawkins has become a target for abuse, although his supporters claim this is only because the believers can find no answer to his logic. Dawkins's bracing asperities are now routinely met in kind: ‘Puffed up, self-regarding, vain, prickly and militant’ was one columnist’s string of adjectives for him."
— Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Salon, 15 August 2015

has this page helped you understand "asperity"?

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Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "asperity" without saying "a bitter attitude" or "a harsh attitude."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Someone's) (something) provoked asperity in (some other people)."

Example 1: "Kristen Stewart's awkward performance as Bella Swan in Twilight provoked asperity in some moviegoers, but many had read the book appreciated it, knowing the character to be deeply uncomfortable with herself."

Example 2: "Kimball's success [as a cook and media figure] and his faith in empirical perfection tend to provoke asperity from competitors."
— Alex Halberstadt, New York Times, 11 October 2012

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "Stop, Drop, & Anagram!"

I’ll give you an 8-letter word, along with a quote with a blank in it. Your job is to drop a letter from the word, then reassemble it into the 7-letter word that fits meaningfully into the blank. You'll find the answer at the bottom of the issue. Enjoy!

Try this one today:

INTEREST.

"We put a suggestion box in the guidance office, for students to bring their concerns to the president's attention. Cap never suspected that the _____ were all fake."
— Gordon Korman, Schooled, 2007

review this word:

1. The literal and figurative opposites of ASPERITY, respectively, are

A. BEAUTY and GRACE.
B. OBTUSENESS and STUPIDITY.
C. SMOOTHNESS and TENDERNESS.

2. In a novel by George Payne Rainsford James, a "polite and courteous" character "made the tea, carved the ham, and asked every man if he took cream and sugar," prompting the narrator to observe "what wonderful things little attentions are—how they _____ our asperities and _____ us to one another!"

A. pluck out .. warm
B. heighten .. endear
C. smooth down .. soften

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
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  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
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How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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