- unpleasantly stern; "wild and harsh country full of hot sand and cactus"; "the nomad life is rough and hazardous"
- disagreeable to the senses; "the harsh cry of a blue jay"; "harsh cognac"; "the harsh white light makes you screw up your eyes"; "harsh irritating smoke filled the hallway"
- coarse: of textures that are rough to the touch or substances consisting of relatively large particles; "coarse meal"; "coarse sand"; "a coarse weave"
- unkind or cruel or uncivil; "had harsh words"; "a harsh and unlovable old tyrant"; "a rough answer"
- severe; "a harsh penalty"
- sharply disagreeable; rigorous; "the harsh facts of court delays"; "an abrasive character"
- To negatively criticize; to put a damper on (a mood); Unpleasantly rough to the touch or other senses; Severe or cruel
- Acrid. Sensation at the same time bitter and astringent, raspy, and disagreeable. Particularly found in some poor quality robusta coffees. Often due to imperfect beans.
- Rough, biting character from excessive tannin or acid.
- Used to describe astringent wines that are tannic or high in alcohol.
- If a wine is too hard it is said to be harsh. Harshness in a wine, young or old, is a flaw.
- Very astringent wines, usually with high alcohol component, often have this rough, rustic taste characteristic. May become more tolerable with ageing but also may not be worth the wait.
- Rough, tannic and acid, often a quality of youth.
- A hard or green wine will generally soften with age; a harsh wine, because of its excessive astringency, probably will not. 1957 Château Latour comes to mind.
- A bitter, raw taste with little strength.
- Strong, unpleasant, sharp or "edgy" flavor; also used to describe Rio-y, iodine-like flavor.
- A coffee that is hard in flavor.
- A negative characteristic describing a bitter, unpleasant, or offensive taste or sensation.
- An unpleasantly aggressive or caustic flavor or feeling to the mouth or nose.
- Unbalanced wine that is tough on the palate.
- Another acidity and tannin adjective, suggesting a high degree of one or the other, or both.
- A wine that is excessively hard to the point where it is so tannic that it may never come around.
- Very rough in flavor; associated with underwithered teas.
- A derogatory term for a wine that lacks balance.
- v Anger, infuriate 2001 Oct 26-year-old female Byron GA You are really harshing me with all this homework! You’re harshing me, baby. You are harsh, man.