severity
n. uncountablen. the quality of being very serious, difficult, or painful. You use this to describe how bad a problem, an illness, or a punishment is.
n. the quality or state of being intense, harsh, or rigorous. Often refers to the degree of damage, pain, or strictness in a given context.
The doctor checked the severity of the injury.
The severity of the winter storm forced the local government to close all schools for a week.
While the initial symptoms appeared mild, the eventual severity of the infection caught the medical team off guard, necessitating an immediate change in the treatment protocol.
From Middle English severity, from Middle French severite (modern French sévérité), from Latin sevēritās. By surface analysis, severe + -ity.
Often paired with the preposition 'of' to specify the condition being measured.