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definitions

stark

[ stahrk ]
/ stɑrk /
|
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR stark ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, stark·er, stark·est.

adverb

utterly, absolutely, or quite: stark mad.
Chiefly Scot. and North England. in a stark manner; stoutly or vigorously.

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RELATED WORDS

simple, blunt, desolate, austere, harsh, depressing, grim, bleak, abrupt, arrant, bald, bare, blessed, complete, confounded, consummate, downright, entire, firm, flagrant

Nearby words

starflower, starfucker, stargaze, stargazer, stargazing, stark, stark effect, stark naked, stark raving mad, stark, harold raynsford, stark, john

Origin of stark

before 900; (adj.) Middle English; Old English stearc stiff, firm; cognate with German stark strong; akin to Old Norse sterkr strong; akin to starch, stare; (adv.) Middle English sterke, derivative of the adj.
Related formsstark·ly, adverbstark·ness, noun

Synonym study

2, 3. See austere, bare1.

Definition for stark (2 of 2)

Stark

[ stahrk; for 2 also German shtahrk ]
/ stɑrk; for 2 also German ʃtɑrk /

noun

Harold Rayns·ford [reynz-ferd] /ˈreɪnz fərd/, 1880–1972, U.S. admiral.
Jo·han·nes [yoh-hah-nuh s] /yoʊˈhɑ nəs/, 1874–1957, German physicist: Nobel prize 1919.
John,1728–1822, American Revolutionary War general.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for stark

British Dictionary definitions for stark (1 of 2)

stark

/ (stɑːk) /

adjective

adverb

completelystark mad
Derived Formsstarkly, adverbstarkness, noun

Word Origin for stark

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

British Dictionary definitions for stark (2 of 2)

Stark

noun

(stɑːk) 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)
(German ʃtark) 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
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for stark

stark

adj.

Old English stearc "stiff, strong" (related to starian "to stare"), from Proto-Germanic *starkaz (cf. Old Norse sterkr, Old Frisian sterk, Middle Dutch starc, Old High German starah, German stark, Gothic *starks), from PIE root *ster- "stiff, rigid" (see stare).

Meaning "utter, sheer, complete" first recorded c.1400, perhaps from influence of common phrase stark dead (late 14c.), with stark mistaken as an intensive adjective. Sense of "bare, barren" is from 1833. Stark naked (1520s) is from Middle English start naked (early 13c.), from Old English steort "tail, rump." Hence British slang starkers "naked" (1923).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper