austere : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: austere	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for austere
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
austere adj severely simple; "a stark interior" [syn: austere, severe, stark, stern] of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor; forbidding in aspect; "an austere expression"; "a stern face" Synonym(s): austere, stern 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" Synonym(s): ascetic, ascetical, austere, spartan
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Austere \Austere"\, [F. aust[8a]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.