austere

[ aw-steer ]

adjective

1. severe in manner or appearance; uncompromising; strict; forbidding:

   an austere teacher.

2. rigorously self-disciplined and severely moral; ascetic; abstinent:

   the austere quality of life in the convent.

3. grave; sober; solemn; serious:

   an austere manner.

4. without excess, luxury, or ease; simple; limited; severe:

   an austere life.

   Antonyms: sybaritic, lush, comfortable, luxurious

5. severely simple; without ornament:

   austere writing.

6. rough to the taste; sour or harsh in flavor.

austere

/ ɒˈstɪə /

adjective

1. stern or severe in attitude or manner

   an austere schoolmaster

2. grave, sober, or serious

   an austere expression

3. self-disciplined, abstemious, or ascetic

   an austere life

4. severely simple or plain

   an austere design

Derived Forms

• ausˈtereness, noun
• ausˈterely, adverb

Other Words From

• aus·terely adverb
• aus·tereness noun
• unaus·tere adjective
• unaus·terely adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of austere¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin austērus, from Greek austērós “harsh, rough, bitter”

Word History and Origins

Origin of austere¹

C14: from Old French austère, from Latin austērus sour, from Greek austēros astringent; related to Greek hauein to dry

Synonym Study

Austere, bleak, spartan, stark all suggest lack of ornament or adornment and of a feeling of comfort or warmth. Austere usually implies a purposeful avoidance of luxury or ease: simple, stripped-down, austere surroundings. Bleak adds a sense of forbidding coldness, hopelessness, depression: a bleak, dreary, windswept plain. Spartan, somewhat more forceful than austere, implies stern discipline and rigorous, even harsh, avoidance of all that is not strictly functional: a life of Spartan simplicity. Stark shares with bleak a sense of grimness and desolation: the stark cliff face.

Example Sentences

It is a method tested “in the most austere, complex environments in which people are shooting at us and people are dying,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times

A small dot down in the lower right-hand corner visually transforms the austere composition into an essay on the perceptual dynamics of deep space, as if we — like that little dot — are floating untethered.

From Los Angeles Times

What we have heard so far about the Budget sounds rather austere, but the chancellor is defining austerity as real-terms cuts in government departments.

From BBC

The BBC's Linda Pressly approached Singapore's authorities and was granted access to the state’s austere Drug Rehabilitation Centre.

From BBC

The video, an austere affair with the band lip-syncing in front of a white background, became ubiquitous; “1984” became the first Van Halen record to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s album chart.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• exacting
• forbidding
• formal
• rigid
• sober
• somber
• stringent