Hypertext Webster Gateway: "austere"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Austere \Aus*tere"\, [F. aust[`e]re, L. austerus, fr. Gr. ?, fr.
? to parch, dry. Cf. {Sear}.]
1. Sour and astringent; rough to the state; having acerbity;
as, an austere crab apple; austere wine.
2. Severe in modes of judging, or living, or acting; rigid;
rigorous; stern; as, an austere man, look, life.
From whom the austere Etrurian virtue rose.
--Dryden.
3. Unadorned; unembellished; severely simple.
Syn: Harsh; sour; rough; rigid; stern; severe; rigorous;
strict.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
austere
adj 1: severely simple; "a stark interior" [syn: {severe}, {stark}]
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}]
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