starkly

[ stahrk-lee ]

adverb

1. in a harsh, grim, or desolate way:

   Working in the slums confronted us starkly with the sufferings of others.

2. extremely simply, sparely, or austerely:

   Even in wealthier households, bedrooms were starkly furnished, with just a bed and perhaps a chair and a small table.

3. in a blunt or sternly plain way, without softening:

   To put it more starkly, your great-grandmother was a common criminal.

4. in a way that is highly contrastive; distinctly or sharply:

   The case presents two starkly different views of mobile device targeting by advertisers.

5. completely or utterly; downright:

   We both know that it's starkly impossible to hide an operation as big as that from a spy system as good as theirs.

Word History and Origins

Origin of starkly¹

First recorded before 900; stark ( def ) + -ly ( def )

Example Sentences

With the promise of a shuffled lineup next spring, the Nationals could really use stark improvements from Robles’s spot in the order, whether it’s seventh, eight or near the top.

From Washington Post

Starting Thursday, I plan to watch almost every minute of the Masters — perhaps I will take breaks to eat — and probably enjoy the golf as much on television in stark November as in person in azalea April.

From Washington Post

She’s a stark change from her predecessor Kassandra, who could charm any room of people and whose humor was infectious.

From Washington Post

After all, when the power goes out in Don DeLillo’s new novel, “The Silence,” the guests at a Super Bowl party in Manhattan immediately go stark-raving mad.

From Washington Post

The statistics paint a stark picture, but it’s a disparity that I’ve faced on a personal level too.

From TechCrunch

It reveals starkly what we are up against when it comes to Erdoğan.

From The Daily Beast

There are neat stacks of femurs and units that contain whole bodies, still intact and starkly white.

From The Daily Beast

“We are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities”—a perhaps admirable but starkly utopian goal.

From The Daily Beast

But Jones, like most outrage-provoking commentators, starkly divides opinion.

From The Daily Beast

The terrain is at once starkly modern, and strangely retro in a pre-feminism Mad Men sort of way.

From The Daily Beast

The brassy noonday fervor, blazing from an unclouded sky, starkly revealed every detail.

From Project Gutenberg

His very deficiencies bring out starkly certain qualities that lurk suppressed and hidden in us all.

From Project Gutenberg

He folded his arms and rose starkly from the chair, his beard all a-bristle, his deep little eyes glaring.

From Project Gutenberg

Starkly exposed and black under the foot of these cliffs were the mouths of several caves.

From Project Gutenberg

He knew starkly that this time he would have to go through with a killing, or else give up this line of research.

From Project Gutenberg