Dictionary Definition
austere adj
2 of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor;
forbidding in aspect; "an austere expression"; "a stern face" [syn:
stern]
3 practicing great self-denial; "Be
systematically ascetic...do...something for no other reason than
that you would rather not do it"- William James; "a desert nomad's
austere life"; "a spartan diet"; "a spartan existence" [syn:
ascetic, ascetical, spartan]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
From , from austerus, from αὐστηρός, especially “‘making the tongue dry’” (originally used of fruits, wines), related to αὔω, αὖος.Adjective
- grim or severe in manner or appearance; stern; strict
- lacking trivial decoration; not extravagant or gaudy
- The interior of the church was as austere as the parishioners were dour.
Translations
grim, stern, strict
- Dutch: streng, droog
not exravagant
- Dutch: sober, karig
Italian
Adjective
austere pExtensive Definition
Austerity can refer to
- A condition in economics -- see Austerity.
- A condition of asceticism in religious or ethical matters.
An austere period may be referred to as The
Austerity -- usually it is obvious because of context to which
country and time period it refers, examples:
Austere (noun) may also refer to:
- Austere (band), electronic music group, as the band name
- Austere (EP), EP by Sparta, and the album name
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Albigensian, Catharist, Franciscan, Lenten, Sabbatarian, Spartan, Spartanic, Trappist, Waldensian, abstemious, abstinent, amaroidal, anchoritic, ascetic, astringent, authoritarian, bald, bare, basic, biting, bitter, bleak, candid, chaste, common, commonplace, demanding, direct, dour, dry, dull, dwarfed, dwarfish, earnest, elementary, eremitic, essential, exacting, exigent, exiguous, flagellant, frank, frugal, fundamental, grave, grim, hard, harsh, homely, homespun, homogeneous, impoverished, inclement, indivisible, inornate, irreducible, jejune, keen, lean, limited, matter-of-fact,
meager, mean, mendicant, mere, meticulous, miserly, monolithic, mortified, narrow, natural, neat, niggardly, of a piece,
open, paltry, parsimonious, plain, plain-speaking,
plain-spoken, poor,
primal, primary, prosaic, prosing, prosy, puny, pure, pure and simple, puritanical, rigoristic, rough, rugged, rustic, scant, scanty, scrawny, scrimp, scrimpy, self-denying, serious, severe, sharp, simon-pure, simple, simple-speaking, single, skimp, skimpy, slender, slight, slim, small, sober, somber, spare, sparing, stark, starvation, stern, stingy, stinted, straightforward,
straitened, strict, stringent, stunted, subsistence, thin, tough, unadorned, unaffected, uncluttered, undecorated, undifferenced, undifferentiated,
unelaborate,
unembellished,
unfancy, unfussy, ungentle, uniform, unimaginative, unnourishing, unnutritious, unornamented, unornate, unpoetical, unsparing, unvarnished, watered, watery, wedded to
poverty