stark

¹

[stahrk]

adjective

starker, starkest 

1. sheer, utter, downright, or complete.

   This plan is stark madness!

2. harsh, grim, or desolate, as a view, place, etc..

   Her photos capture the stark desert landscape.

3. extremely simple or severe.

   With its stark interior and rough ride, the car scores low in our luxury car ranking.

4. bluntly or sternly plain; not softened or glamorized.

   He panicked suddenly at the stark reality of the approaching deadline.

5. distinct, sharp, or vivid.

   The thriving community gardens stood in stark contrast to vacant land and abandoned buildings.

6. stiff or rigid in substance, muscles, etc.

7. rigid in death.

8. Archaic.,  strong; powerful; massive or robust.

adverb

1. utterly, absolutely, or quite.

   stark mad.

2. Chiefly Scot. and North England.,  in a stark manner; stoutly or vigorously.

Stark

²

[stahrk, shtahrk]

noun

1. Harold Raynsford 1880–1972, U.S. admiral.

2. Johannes 1874–1957, German physicist: Nobel Prize 1919.

3. John, 1728–1822, American Revolutionary War general.

stark

¹

/ stɑːk /

adjective

1. (usually prenominal) devoid of any elaboration; blunt

   the stark facts

2. grim; desolate

   a stark landscape

3. (usually prenominal) utter; absolute

   stark folly

4. archaic,  severe; violent

5. archaic,  rigid, as in death (esp in the phrases stiff and stark, stark dead )

6. short for stark-naked

adverb

1. completely

   stark mad

Stark

²

noun

1. 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)

2. 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

Other Word Forms

• starkly adverb
• starkness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of stark¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of stark¹

Old English stearc stiff; related to Old Norse sterkr , Gothic gastaurknan to stiffen

Synonym Study

See austere, bare ¹.

Example Sentences

The backdrop of skyscrapers and shiny office towers was a stark reminder of the gulf separating rich and poor in South Africa, which the World Bank ranks as the most unequal country on the planet.

Read more on Barron's

The contrast with the sleek modern workplace shown in the sequences that take place today is stark.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

That picture stands in stark contrast to what police and prosecutors were preparing to argue in front of a jury, moments before Doyle unexpectedly folded on Wednesday.

Read more on BBC

Guardiola's 100th Champions League match as City boss was a damp squib, in stark contrast to so many of the previous 99, which includes 62 wins and the club's maiden European crown in 2023.

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There’s a stark divide among Americans when it comes to retirement savings.

Read more on MarketWatch

Related Words

• austere 
• bleak 
• depressing 
• desolate 
• grim 
• harsh