Dictionary.com

stark

[ stahrk ]
/ stɑrk /
Save This Word!
See 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.
QUIZ
QUIZ YOURSELF ON "IS" VS. "ARE"
"Is" it time for a new quiz? "Are" you ready? Then prove your excellent skills on using "is" vs. "are."
Question 1 of 7
IS and ARE are both forms of which verb?
have
be
TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

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.

synonym study for stark

2, 3. See austere, bare1.

OTHER WORDS FROM stark

starkly, adverbstarkness, noun

Other definitions 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-nuhs], /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. 2022

Words related to stark

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

How to use stark in a sentence

  • Eventually, in perhaps the starkest act of discrimination here, much of the road was closed to Palestinians altogether in 1994.

    "Obama, Come Here To Hebron"|Ali Gharib|March 20, 2013|DAILY BEAST

  • “It allows us to frame the contrast in the starkest terms possible,” a senior leadership aide said.

    The Democrats Target Millionaires|Patricia Murphy|October 7, 2011|DAILY BEAST

  • In Mandeville, and in Kaye, it is presented only in its barest and starkest form.

    A Letter to Dion|Bernard Mandeville

  • A sea-voyage lays bare many secrets and shows up human nature at its starkest.

    Jan and Her Job|L. Allen Harker

British Dictionary definitions for stark (1 of 2)

stark
/ (stɑːk) /
adjective
adverb
completelystark mad

Derived forms of stark

starkly, 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
FEEDBACK