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).
Derivatives:
starkly adv. starkness n.
Etymology: OE stearc f. Gmc: stark naked f. earlier start-naked f. obs. start tail: cf. REDSTART