stark
adjective
sheer, utter, downright, or complete.
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stark
1 American
[stahrk]
/ stɑrk /
adjective
-
starker,
comparative
-
starkest
superlative
-
sheer, utter, downright, or complete.
This plan is stark madness!
-
harsh, grim, or desolate, as a view, place, etc..
Her photos capture the stark desert landscape.
-
extremely simple or severe.
With its stark interior and rough ride, the car scores low in our luxury car ranking.
-
bluntly or sternly plain; not softened or glamorized.
He panicked suddenly at the stark reality of the approaching deadline.
-
distinct, sharp, or vivid.
The thriving community gardens stood in stark contrast to vacant land and abandoned buildings.
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stiff or rigid in substance, muscles, etc.
-
rigid in death.
-
Archaic. strong; powerful; massive or robust.
adverb
-
utterly, absolutely, or quite.
stark mad.
-
Chiefly Scot. and North England. in a stark manner; stoutly or vigorously.
Stark
2
American
[stahrk, shtahr k]
/ stɑrk, ʃtɑrk /
noun
-
Harold Raynsford 1880–1972, U.S. admiral.
-
Johannes 1874–1957, German physicist: Nobel Prize 1919.
-
John, 1728–1822, American Revolutionary War general.
stark
1
British
/ stɑːk /
adjective
-
(usually prenominal) devoid of any elaboration; blunt
the stark facts
-
grim; desolate
a stark landscape
-
(usually prenominal) utter; absolute
stark folly
-
archaic severe; violent
-
archaic rigid, as in death (esp in the phrases stiff and stark, stark dead )
-
short for stark-naked
adverb
Stark
2
British
noun
-
Dame Freya ( Madeline ) (ˈfreɪə). 1893–1993, British traveller and writer, whose many books include The Southern Gates of Arabia (1936), Beyond Euphrates (1951), and The Journey's Echo (1963)
-
Johannes (joˈhanəs). 1874–1957, German physicist, who discovered the splitting of the lines of a spectrum when the source of light is subjected to a strong electrostatic field ( Stark effect , 1913): Nobel prize for physics 1919
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of stark
First recorded before 900; (adjective) Middle English; Old English stearc “stiff, firm”; cognate with German stark “strong”; akin to Old Norse sterkr “strong”; akin to starch, stare; (adverb) Middle English sterke, derivative of the adjective
Explanation
Stark means "complete or extreme," like the stark contrast between your music taste — punk and weird metal — and your mom's, with all her 1950's doo-wop favorites. In describing a place, stark means "providing no shelter or sustenance." A barren desert or a room with no furniture or curtains is stark. It can also mean "severe, stern, or austere," like the stark beauty of the rocky cliffs in the west of Ireland. Stark can also be used to mean "totally." If you are called stark, raving mad, there's no question about it: you are acting completely crazy.
Vocabulary lists containing stark
Words from "The Avengers"
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 7–11
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The Catcher in the Rye
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Yet those calls have also run into a stark reality: Greek alumni donate to their alma maters at five times the rate of other students, according to a 2021 Gallup survey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
These records stood in stark contrast to conditions at the opposite pole, where Arctic sea ice was undergoing a steep decline.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
At a protest in central Paris last week, she told AFP there was a stark divide in resources between the 1,300 Eugene Henaff pupils and those in wealthier areas.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
IOM's Djibouti mission chief Alexandre Coissac called the tragedy a "stark reminder" of the dangers migrants face while seeking a new life elsewhere.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
He is mad, stark, raving mad, and it’s no use my trying to stop him.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Joining Vision in his “VisionQuest” adventures are an array of other AIs created by Tony Stark — all of which essentially now reside inside of Vision’s head.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
Europe's fightback in the opening session was initiated by Swedish duo Maja Stark and Linn Grant who defeated Rose Zhang and Jennifer Kupcho 3&2.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
And once Stark Industries and Wayne Enterprises bankroll their respective super-squads’ fortified headquarters, they attract the universe’s talent.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
This year, the award-winning British birding podcast “Get Birding” welcomed a new host better known for portraying doomed heroes like Ned Stark in “Game of Thrones,” than for his knowledge of green woodpeckers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Beside him, the direwolf of Stark flapped from a staff borne by young Cley Cerwyn.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
On climate change, the contradiction is even starker.
From Slate ● Sep. 25, 2026
But while the settlement sidesteps any admission of wrongdoing by the company, it does compel Meta to combat problems few parents knew existed, in terms far starker than those it has articulated before.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
After initially declining to say where he stands, Paxton issued a fresh statement that pushed back on Big Bend construction in starker terms.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
The comparative numbers for Kenya and Ghana are starker: 53% and 3.5%, and 43% and 2%, respectively.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Her room always made him feel wistful and envious for the abundance in which she dwelled—a stark contrast with his even starker room.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
A little cheer rose for 79-year-old Hwang Sun-hee after she managed to place an online order at a training session in South Korea, which has one of the world's starkest digital divides for seniors.
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
In Cornwall, more than a quarter of practices that previously offered NHS treatment have stopped doing so, making it one of the starkest examples of the shift away from NHS dentistry.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
The starkest contrast between two summertime TV hits about women navigating midlife’s challenges shows up in the way its leading ladies handle themselves in the kitchen.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
They were the starkest sign yet that efforts to clinch a permanent peace agreement are unraveling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Perhaps the starkest of these divisions was between South Africa’s two dominant groups, the Zulu and the Xhosa.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
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