— austerely , adv. — austereness , n.
/aw stear"/ , adj.
1. severe in manner or appearance; uncompromising; strict; forbidding: an austere teacher.
2. rigorously self-disciplined and severely moral; ascetic; abstinent: the austere quality of life in the convent.
3. grave; sober; solemn; serious: an austere manner.
4. without excess, luxury, or ease; simple; limited; severe: an austere life.
5. severely simple; without ornament: austere writing.
6. lacking softness; hard: an austere bed of straw.
7. rough to the taste; sour or harsh in flavor.
[ 1300-50; ME ( austerus austerós harsh, rough, bitter ]
Syn. 4. AUSTERE, BLEAK, SPARTAN, STARK all suggest lack of ornament or adornment and of a feeling of comfort or warmth. AUSTERE usually implies a purposeful avoidance of luxury or ease: simple, stripped-down, austere surroundings. BLEAK adds a sense of forbidding coldness, hopelessness, depression: a bleak, dreary, windswept plain. SPARTAN, somewhat more forceful than austere, implies stern discipline and rigorous, even harsh, avoidance of all that is not strictly functional: a life of Spartan simplicity. STARK shares with BLEAK a sense of grimness and desolation: the stark cliff face.
Ant. 4. luxurious, comfortable, lush; sybaritic.