noun. Severity.

noun. The property of being severe.

noun. excessive sternness

noun. extreme plainness

noun. something hard to endure

noun. used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather

"Asked to elaborate on what he meant by "severeness," Garnett looked down at the interview table in front of him and drew an analogy, saying the bone spurs were expected to be the size of a tape recorder but ended up being more like a microphone."

plainness  sternness  strictness