AUSTERE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Austere

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/ɔstˈɪr/ Listen

adjective

Austere adj.

Sour and astringent; rough to the state; having acerbity; as, an austere crab apple; austere wine.

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."

Unadorned; unembellished; severely simple.

Synonyms: Harsh; sour; rough; rigid; stern; severe; rigorous; strict.

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Etymology of 'Austere'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Austere" Quotes from Famous Books

... call should instantly bring all who love me most,— For ne'er were seen such arch delights from Greek or Roman host; Nor at the free, control-less jousts, where, spite of cynic vaunts, Austere but lenient Seneca no ...

— Poems • Victor Hugo

... to by all. They felt the force of something in him which made him their superior. Heaven was wonderfully near him. He was not old-fashioned; he was always a boy, unconscious of anything unusual in himself; not solemn nor impressive nor austere in manner. All that he did, he did with perfect naturalness; for to him the ...

— For Greater Things: The story of Saint Stanislaus Kostka • William T. Kane, S.J.

... the laughs. Mr Goble's idea of a musical piece was something embracing trained seals, acrobats, and two or three teams of skilled buck-and-wing dancers, with nothing on the stage, from a tree to a lamp-shade, which could not suddenly turn into a chorus-girl. The austere legitimateness of "The Rose of America" gave him a pain in the neck. He loathed plot, and "The Rose of America" ...

— The Little Warrior - (U.K. Title: Jill the Reckless) • P. G. Wodehouse

... of Michelangelo's austere temperament, intensely masculine in his predilections, the beauty of womanhood was not fully revealed. His sibyls can scarcely be counted as women; they belong to a world of their own, neither human nor ...

— Michelangelo - A Collection Of Fifteen Pictures And A Portrait Of The - Master, With Introduction And Interpretation • Estelle M. Hurll

... never great personal popularity. His presence was majestic, but forbidding. His manners were agreeable, and sometimes fascinating to his friends, when he was in a genial mood; but he was often reserved or even austere to strangers, and terrible to his enemies. His style of thought was mathematical, his language expressive, but never popular. He wrote as a man would dictate an essay which was to appear as a posthumous ...

— Thoughts on Educational Topics and Institutions • George S. Boutwell

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