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

• ausˈterely, adverb
• ausˈtereness, noun

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

The cells are austere—essentially hardened trailers—that cost about $40,000 each to build.

From The Daily Beast

The site is not unlike North Korea itself: austere and more than a little bit dated-looking.

From The Daily Beast

Multi-story hotel towers stand stripped of any ornamentation, and seem almost Soviet in their austere and honest decay.

From The Daily Beast

“It looks spare and austere, but we spent 1,000 hours creating these,” Snoeren said.

From The Daily Beast

The designs were meant to be “stark” and “austere,” the designers said, and there were no straight seams in the creations.

From The Daily Beast

The sedateness of his deportment and the apparent regularity of his life delighted austere moralists.

From Project Gutenberg

Madame Torvestad, with an austere and imperious aspect, sat in her place; many gazed at her, but she maintained her composure.

From Project Gutenberg

Hence those great devotions, those austere retreats from the world, of which some of them have given an example.

From Project Gutenberg

These are the followers of Levana, the austere goddess who takes up the new-born babe and perfects it by sorrow.

From Project Gutenberg

This type became more and more rigid and austere as the gathering shadows of the Dark Ages mantled on the minds of men.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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