stern
adjective
firm, strict, or uncompromising.
stern
1 American
[sturn]
/ stɜrn /
adjective
sterner,
comparative
sternest
superlative
-
firm, strict, or uncompromising.
stern discipline.
- Synonyms:
- unfeeling, cruel, unsympathetic, unrelenting, adamant
- Antonyms:
- lenient
-
hard, harsh, or severe.
a stern reprimand.
- Synonyms:
- unfeeling, cruel, unsympathetic, unrelenting, adamant
-
rigorous or austere; of an unpleasantly serious character.
stern times.
-
grim or forbidding in aspect.
a stern face.
stern
2
American
[sturn]
/ stɜrn /
noun
sterns
plural
-
the after or rear part of a vessel (often opposed to bow orstem ).
The ship's stern was a glory of brightly painted carved figures of knights and mythical beasts.
-
the back or rear of anything.
-
Astronomy. Stern, the constellation Puppis.
-
Fox Hunting. the tail of a hound.
verb (used with or without object)
-
to be the person paddling, steering, working, etc., at the rear of (a vessel).
When you're bird-watching, it's much better to be paddling up front than sterning the canoe.
-
to propel or steer (a vessel) with the after or rear part leading.
We pulled up to the dock 15 minutes later and managed to stern in before dark.
Stern
3
American
[sturn]
/ stɜrn /
noun
-
Isaac, 1920–2001, U.S. violinist, born in Russia.
-
Otto, 1888–1969, U.S. physicist, born in Germany: Nobel Prize 1943.
stern-
4
American
stern
1
British
/ stɜːn /
adjective
-
showing uncompromising or inflexible resolve; firm, strict, or authoritarian
-
lacking leniency or clemency; harsh or severe
-
relentless; unyielding
the stern demands of parenthood
-
having an austere or forbidding appearance or nature
stern
2
British
/ stɜːn /
noun
-
the rear or after part of a vessel, opposite the bow or stem
-
the rear part of any object
-
the tail of certain breeds of dog, such as the foxhound or beagle
adjective
Stern
3
British
/ stɜːn /
noun
stern
Idioms
Synonym Usage
Stern, severe, harsh agree in referring to methods, aspects, manners, or facial expressions. Stern implies uncompromising, inflexible firmness, and sometimes a hard, forbidding, or withdrawn aspect or nature: a stern parent. Severe implies strictness, lack of sympathy, and a tendency to impose a hard discipline on others: a severe judge. Harsh suggests a great severity and roughness, and cruel, unfeeling treatment of others: a harsh critic.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of stern1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English styrne
Origin of stern2
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English sterne, probably from Old Norse stjōrn “steering” ( see sternpost)
Explanation
You know when you've done something really wrong, and the person who gets you in trouble has that unforgiving look on his face? The best word for that look is stern, meaning "strict" or "severe." Stern, strict, severe, harsh, unforgiving — they all more or less mean the same thing, which is very tough and exacting, with a little helping of seriousness thrown in for good measure. What does this have to do with the stern of a boat, also known as the rear area? Um, nothing? But it's good to know about that meaning too, since it could come in handy some day when you're giving directions on a ship.
Vocabulary lists containing stern
Words Every Pirate Should Know
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"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe
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List 6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
All this might have been dismissed as frivolous chatter - until state media and authorities chimed in with stern words for Xie.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
His dry sense of humour shone through at press conferences, far from the serious and stern Clarke which returned post-Brazil.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
This curvaceous shape encloses an open and spacious cabin, with plenty of light in the second row and versatile storage in the stern.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
History serves as a stern reminder that key straits have always been used for leverage.
From Barron's ● May 22, 2026
For a moment, Mr. Hodges looked stern; then he smiled.
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
Epstein warned the prince's business aide, David Stern, against the deal, the files reveal.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
“Lindsey was good company,” Clinton told Howard Stern in 2019, “he was funny, he was self-deprecating. He also believed in climate change back in those days.”
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
Several of the smartest legal experts will join my colleagues Mark Joseph Stern and Dahlia Lithwick for a live video chat about everything that happened at the high court this year.
From Slate ● Jul. 9, 2026
Foudy at NYU Stern said some European fans have been shocked by U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026
His accountant, Itzhak Stern, thought that Schindler committed to saving Jews after he witnessed the mass killings during the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto.
From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson
Upon closer approach the river shore was seen to be lined with scows and rowboats; a stern- wheeled river steamer lay moored abreast of the town.
From The Winds of Chance by Beach, Rex Ellingwood
The men laid the fault on the stern- looking husband; the women, on the minx of a wife.
From Paul Clifford — Volume 06 by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
In a few days I presented myself to a tall, stern- visaged man, who was slowly pacing the leeward side of the quarter- deck.
From The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales With Condensed Novels, Spanish and American Legends, and Earlier Papers by Harte, Bret
As near as I can tell, she has not got no wheel at all, side- or stern-.
From J. Poindexter, Colored by Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)
"Forty, I should say — very handsome — rather stern- looking — and rich."
From Far from the Madding Crowd by Hardy, Thomas
Navy said Revolutionary Guard vessels repeatedly crossed the bows and sterns of several American ships at close range and high speed in the northern Gulf.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 22, 2020
With the sterns half-ashore, breakers could then cut in and dismantle the ships laterally, as a snacker might eat through a baguette.
From The Guardian ● May 2, 2017
Thousands of office workers rush past it every day without noticing its three bay windows carved as the sterns of baroque frigates, complete with waves, dolphins and trailing seaweed.
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2015
The PTs bellowed to the attack, flicked torpedoes at every ship they could get at, spilled out smoke screens and roared in wide circles with phosphorescent roosters' tails streaming from their sterns.
From Time Magazine Archive
When seventeenth-century European sailors first saw the southern skies they put objects of seventeenth- century interest in the heavens—toucans and peacocks, telescopes and microscopes, compasses and the sterns of ships.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
With his latest, “Kontinental ’25,” Jude — who also put out a coarsely wacky version of “Dracula” last year — shifts away from clownishness and toward a sterner register of concern for society.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026
Rosenior will face a sterner test in his first home game on Wednesday when Chelsea host Premier League leaders Arsenal in the League Cup semi-final first leg.
From Barron's ● Jan. 10, 2026
But it remains to be seen whether this president and the country he leads are ready for the sterner tests to come.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2025
Almost everything we associate him with—the North Pole, the sled, the reindeer—is a 19th-century confection laid on top of a much older and sterner figure.
From Slate ● Dec. 15, 2024
Edward thrashes again and I say it louder, sterner.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
The blockage in the Persian Gulf poses the sternest test the reserves have ever faced.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026
PSG come into the sternest test yet of their European title defence top of the French Ligue 1 and with three wins from three so far in the league phase.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2025
In death penalty cases, the legal system is put to its sternest test.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2025
Novak Djokovic faces the sternest test of his Australian Open title defence when he meets Italy's Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals on Friday.
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2024
Elizabeth looks at him over her knitting, sizing him up with narrowed eyes that remind him of his sternest teachers, though he stands much taller than she does.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
