adj. & adv.
adj. 1 desolate, bare (a stark landscape). 2 sharply evident (in stark contrast). 3 downright, sheer (stark madness). 4 completely naked. 5 archaic strong, stiff, rigid.
adv. completely, wholly (stark mad; stark naked). starkly adv. starkness n.
[ OE stearc f. Gmc: stark naked f. earlier start-naked f. obs. start tail: cf. REDSTART ]