severity vs hardship

severity and hardship both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
severity	Yes	No	No	No
hardship	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, severity and hardship are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of severity include asperity, grimness, rigor, rigorousness, rigour, rigourousness, severeness.

severity (noun)	hardship (noun)
excessive sternness	something hard to endure
used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather	something that causes or entails suffering
something hard to endure	a state of misfortune or affliction
extreme plainness