Synonyms for austere
- adjective
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Strict — grim or severe in manner or appearance
strict, stern, severe, harsh, dour, stark, hard, grim, rigid, unsmiling, rugged, sober, rigorous, forbidding, tough, rough, stiff, earnest, serious, grave, uncompromising, somber US, sombre UK
2. Spartan — lacking decoration; trivial; not extravagant or gaudy
spartan, plain, unadorned, modest, simple, chaste, bare, unvarnished, basic, essential, unembellished, unornamented, inornate, demure, undecorated, rudimentary, untrimmed, ungarnished, undecked
3. Ascetic
Definitions
- adj. 1
Grim or severe in manner or appearance.
The headmistress was an austere old woman.
- adj. 2
Lacking decoration; trivial; not extravagant or gaudy.
The interior of the church was as austere as the parishioners were dour.
- adj. 3
Adhering to the economic policy of austerity.
Related words
- Word family
- austerely austereness austerity
Choose the right word
Austere signifies severely simple or temperate, strict in self-restraint or discipline, and similarly unrelenting toward others.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- strict Algeria has to relax its strict economic policies.
- stark Ziri walked in on Rima and found her stark naked.
- rigid Ziri came across as overly rigid and unreasonable.
- dour Tom's dour silence said more than any words could.
- spartan Dr Shinde is known for living a very spartan lifestyle.
- unadorned It was a small, unadorned room.
By length
- 4 letters
- hard1, bare1, grim1, dour2
- 5 letters
- basic2, tough1, rough1, plain1, grave1, harsh1, stark1, stern1, sober2, stiff1, rigid2
- 6 letters
- simple2, severe2, strict1, modest2, rugged2, somber2, sombre, chaste1, demure2
- 7 letters
- serious3, earnest2, spartan2, ascetic3
- 8 letters
- rigorous3, inornate, undecked
- 9 letters
- essential3, unadorned3, abstinent3, unsmiling3, untrimmed, ascetical
- 10 letters
- forbidding3, abstemious
- 11 letters
- rudimentary5, unvarnished3, undecorated, ungarnished
- 12 letters
- unornamented
- 13 letters
- unembellished
- 14 letters
- uncompromising5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (dour2 = 2 syllables).