Starker

[shtahr-ker]

noun

Ja·nos [yah-nawsh] /ˈyɑ nɔʃ/, 1924–2013, U.S. cellist, born in Hungary.

stark

[stahrk]

adjective, stark·er, stark·est.

sheer, utter, downright, or complete: stark madness.
harsh, grim, or desolate, as a view, place, etc.: a stark landscape.
extremely simple or severe: a stark interior.
bluntly or sternly plain; not softened or glamorized: the stark reality of the schedule's deadline.
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.

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.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for starker

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

Examples from the Web for starker

Contemporary Examples of starker

It was a bold, more overt, starker sense of humor level than they have had in the past.
Oscars Host Neil Patrick Harris on His Best and Worst Emcee Moments (VIDEO)
Neil Patrick Harris
October 15, 2014
And we saw it this week in starker relief than we usually do.
A Most Revealing Week for Republicans
Michael Tomasky
April 4, 2014
The contrast with those entrusted with the campaign could not have been starker.
Obama’s 2012 Campaign Prepped for Disaster. Obamacare Didn’t.
Lloyd Green
October 23, 2013
"There couldn't be a starker contrast," Axelrod said, slamming what he called Romney's "backwards-looking" approach.
Democrats Hit Romney on Marriage
Howard Kurtz
May 7, 2012
The difference in approach has become all the starker as the financial crisis bites in the U.S.
Russians Win the Space Race
Owen Matthews, Anna Nemtsova
July 8, 2011

Historical Examples of starker

She had got another situation at Starker's, in the millinery department.
The Combined Maze
May Sinclair
And she had kept her job at Starker's, and meant to keep it for another year or so.
The Combined Maze
May Sinclair
On Monday he refrained from hanging round the door in Starker's iron shutter.
The Combined Maze
May Sinclair
He had a right to hang about Starker's, for he knew Miss Usher now.
The Combined Maze
May Sinclair
Violet's connection with Starker's ceased on the day of her marriage.
The Combined Maze
May Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for starker

stark

adjective

(usually prenominal) devoid of any elaboration; bluntthe stark facts
grim; desolatea stark landscape
(usually prenominal) utter; absolutestark folly
archaic severe; violent
archaic, or poetic rigid, as in death (esp in the phrases stiff and stark, stark dead)
short for stark-naked

adverb

completelystark mad

Derived Formsstarkly, adverbstarkness, noun

Word Origin for stark

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

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 starker

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).