AUSTERITY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Austerity

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/ˌɔstˈɛrɪti/ Listen

noun

Austerity n. (pl. austerities)

Sourness and harshness to the taste. (Obs.)

Severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline. "The austerity of John the Baptist."

Plainness; freedom from adornment; severe simplicity. "Partly owing to the studied austerity of her dress, and partly to the lack of demonstration in her manners."

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Etymology of 'Austerity'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Austerity" Quotes from Famous Books

... had hitherto, since the death, of my mother, conducted himself towards me with a degree of austerity and rigid discipline not altogether calculated to conciliate my hasty disposition, now relaxed his usual strictness, and ever afterwards proved himself not only a kind parent, but an indulgent and sincere Friend.—He lamented upon this occasion ...

— Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 1 • Henry Hunt

... in an attempt to usurp his father's place and take charge of affairs, as "next friend." One generation is about the limit of a Utopian Community. When those who have organized the community weaken and one by one pass away, and the young assume authority, the old ideas of austerity are forgotten and dissipation and disintegration enter. So ...

— Little Journeys To The Homes Of Great Teachers • Elbert Hubbard

... to the lightness, brilliancy, and gaiety, if we may use such a word, of the cathedral! There the effect on the mind is of pure delight; we feel the exhilaration, not the austerity, of religion. Very different is the impression produced by St. Germain, which may be described as a church of tombs, a temple consecrated to the dead. Although on a smaller scale, this ancient burial-place ...

— The Roof of France • Matilda Betham-Edwards

... upon coupling them together. We must be allowed to abate somewhat of the austerity of criticism by a reference to the life of the author. We cannot implicitly follow the unconditioned admiration of Mrs Howitt for "the beautiful thoughts of Andersen," which she tells us in her preface ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 62, No. 384, October 1847 • Various

... particulars here related of the convent discipline, were communicated to me by the resident priest. This gentleman was certainly not a prejudiced witness on the side of austerity—for he frankly complained of the lonely life which the rules of the Sisterhood inflicted on him, and unhesitatingly acknowledged that he was anxious for the time when his clerical successor ...

— Rambles Beyond Railways; - or, Notes in Cornwall taken A-foot • Wilkie Collins

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