austere
Americanadjective
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severe in manner or appearance; uncompromising; strict; forbidding.
an austere teacher.
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rigorously self-disciplined and severely moral; ascetic; abstinent.
the austere quality of life in the convent.
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grave; sober; solemn; serious.
an austere manner.
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without excess, luxury, or ease; simple; limited; severe.
an austere life.
- Antonyms:
- sybaritic, lush, comfortable, luxurious, luxurious
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severely simple; without ornament.
austere writing.
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rough to the taste; sour or harsh in flavor.
adjective
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stern or severe in attitude or manner
an austere schoolmaster
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grave, sober, or serious
an austere expression
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self-disciplined, abstemious, or ascetic
an austere life
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severely simple or plain
an austere design
Usage
What does austere mean? Austere most commonly means extremely stern or strict or without any frills or luxuries.Things that are described as austere are serious, harsh, or severely simple.The word is especially used to describe a state of extreme self-discipline or minimalistic living, such as the austere conditions in a monastery. Think of a monk who lives in a bedroom with only a metal cot and eats plain rice every day—that’s an austere lifestyle.The noun form of austere is austerity—the state of being austere.Example: You can’t expect people to cope with such austere conditions—they need more than the bare necessities.
Related Words
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.
Other Word Forms
- austerely adverb
- austereness noun
- unaustere adjective
- unausterely adverb
Etymology
Origin of austere
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin austērus, from Greek austērós “harsh, rough, bitter”
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.
And though the songs are austere, their performance is far from it.
From Salon
A traditional New England Republican who cut an almost austere figure on and off the bench, Souter joined the court in 1990.
“Mise en place,” French for everything in its place, sounds austere, but the practice itself is anything but.
From Salon
The grim economic outlook means that for many Palestinian Christians, even though there are now public events as well as religious services, it will be an austere Christmas.
From BBC
Contemporary in the austere beauty of the sound and quiet intensity of the players.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
