Vocabulary
Severe
English and Urdu gloss, synonyms and antonyms, and example usage from our editorial sentence cache where available.
English meaning
(of something bad or undesirable) very great; intense.
Urdu meaning
شدید، سخت ناگوار، بہت سخت
Example sentences (from Dawn)
Sentences are selected from stored editorial text where your search word appears. If none appear yet, run the admin sentence generator for fuller coverage.
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The confirmation of famine conditions in places such as Gaza and Sudan signals how severe and entrenched the crisis has become.
Dawn Editorials —
Food-insecure nation
— 2026-04-27
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The Iranians understand that the current blockage of Hormuz will have increasingly severe effects on the world economy and may intensify pressure on the Trump administration via the international community to exercise restraint.
Dawn Editorials —
The fog over peace talks
— 2026-04-22
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Given the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the severe supply-side crisis that has hit global oil markets, there should by now have been a spiralling rise in the price of oil.
Dawn Editorials —
Paper oil
— 2026-04-16
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Life in the refugee camps is both severe and dependent on aid for even basic needs.
Dawn Editorials —
Escaping pain
— 2026-04-16
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Water availability in the rivers and dams this year is far better than it was last year when Irsa had to declare a 43pc shortfall in April 2025 due to severe drought.
Dawn Editorials —
Kharif relief
— 2026-04-15
Synonyms
acute, very bad, serious, grave, critical, dire, drastic, grievous, extreme
Antonyms
minor, negligible, gentle, slight,
Curator example
“a severe shortage of technicians”
More vocabulary to explore
About this vocabulary section.
These entries support close reading of Dawn editorials and opinion pieces: short definitions,
Urdu equivalents where we have them, word relations, and—when generated—real lines from the editorial archive
so you can see tone and usage.
Common questions
- Do I need to sign up to use this vocabulary page?
- No. Word pages are open to everyone. You can read meanings in English and Urdu, synonyms and antonyms, and example sentences without creating an account.
- Where do the example sentences come from?
- When available, example sentences are drawn from cached matches in our Dawn editorial corpus so you can see how a word is used in real newsroom-style prose.
- How is this different from a dictionary?
- This section is curated for students preparing for competitive exams and editorial reading. Entries are compact, often include Urdu glosses, and are paired with in-context lines from editorials when we have them.
