starkly

[ stahrk-lee ]

adverb

1. in a harsh, grim, or desolate way:

   Working in the slums confronted us starkly with the sufferings of others.

2. extremely simply, sparely, or austerely:

   Even in wealthier households, bedrooms were starkly furnished, with just a bed and perhaps a chair and a small table.

3. in a blunt or sternly plain way, without softening:

   To put it more starkly, your great-grandmother was a common criminal.

4. in a way that is highly contrastive; distinctly or sharply:

   The case presents two starkly different views of mobile device targeting by advertisers.

5. completely or utterly; downright:

   We both know that it's starkly impossible to hide an operation as big as that from a spy system as good as theirs.

Word History and Origins

Origin of starkly¹

First recorded before 900; stark ( def ) + -ly ( def )

Example Sentences

And the Iron Curtain, of course, divided biology and medicine as starkly as it did politics and cultures.

From Salon

California’s schools, colleges and universities are girding for potentially sweeping changes under a new Trump administration, based on his starkly different vision for education gleaned from campaign pledges, the GOP platform and his past actions.

From Los Angeles Times

His victory has us wrestling with the question of how two such starkly different visions of the United States coexist.

From Los Angeles Times

Despite their shared concerns about the state’s and nation’s future, they have starkly different ideas about who the best candidates are to fix it.

From Los Angeles Times

For starkly conformist Brazil, Irwin’s sense of unconstrained freedom may help clarify just what enraged those destructive observers.

From Los Angeles Times