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Definition of harshness : The quality or state of being harsh.

Synonyms:

indentation, rigor, bad weather, pitting, asperity, callosity, clumsiness, raggedness, rigidity, unkindness, malignity, ruggedness, rough water, severeness, ruthlessness, disorderliness, choppiness, insensibility, austereness, tyranny, abrasiveness, cruelness, stiffness, callousness, unfeelingness, gracelessness, badness, acrimony, easy, tartness, mercilessness, rowdiness, inclemency, cruelty, validity, sourness, pitilessness, bitterness, rowdyism, brutality, virulence, hardship, cogency, awkwardness, crudeness, anger, rigour, inclementness, inhuman treatment, moroseness, rigourousness

enmity, hassle, altercation, hostility, dissidence, strife, difference, conflict, antipathy, discord, feud, disagreement, disharmony, dissension, squabble, riot, discordancy, clash, warfare, tension, contention, animosity, squall, antagonism, cacophony, brawl, row, dissonance, imbroglio, commotion, collision, friction, clamor, hubbub

intensity, matter-of-factness, abruptness, meticulousness, grimness, sternness, coolness, causticity, astringency, crispness, keenness, correctness, dryness, frostiness, sharpness, rigorousness, discipline, bluntness, stringency, strictness, chilliness, acerbity, starkness, acuteness, authoritarianism, austerity, severity, gruffness, preciseness, brusqueness, briskness, leanness, bleakness, oppressiveness

scream, screech, caterwaul, highness, reediness, creakiness, scratchiness, raucousness, hoarseness, squeal, piercing, stridency, whistle, shrillness

difficulty, toughness, cantankerousness, hardness, fussiness, ticklishness, cumbersomeness, complexity, stressfulness, adversity, roughness, knottiness, ordeal, arduousness, wearying, trickiness, strenuousness, wearisomeness, onerousness, contrariness, complication, tightness, formidability

Usage examples:

• I need not conceal from you, Miss Ellis, that I am acquainted with the losses which your uncle has recently sustained, and no one can appreciate more keenly than I do the harshness with which the world, in its ignorance of details, is apt to judge of the circumstances which brought about this sad state of things. - "Deep Down, a Tale of the Cornish Mines", R.M. Ballantyne.
• Pausanias at this time was carrying on a treasonable correspondence with the king of Persia, and treated the allied Greek troops with harshness and wanton insolence, the offspring of unlimited power. - "Plutarch's Lives, Volume II", Aubrey Stewart & George Long.
• I enjoin you then to look into the complaints of the slaves of Iulius Sabinus, who have fled for protection to the statue of the Emperor, and if you find them treated with undue harshness or other ignominious wrong, order them to be sold, so that they may not again fall under the power of their master; and the latter will find that if he attempts to evade this my enactment, I shall visit his offence with severe punishment. - "The Institutes of Justinian", Caesar Flavius Justinian.