Pick the formal, common, literary-sounding word "austere" when you want to point out how something or someone seems uncomfortably harsh, plain, or severe: totally lacking in ease, warmth, and comfort.

Often, we talk about austere rooms, buildings, landscapes, and other places. Here's Jon Krakauer: "The desert is... sensorily austere."

Meals, diets, songs, performances, and other creations and experiences can also be austere: "First Reformed... is Paul Schrader's austere, churning drama" (New York Times).

And it's less common, but if you like to get abstract, you can talk about austere qualities and concepts, like austere purity, simplicity, minimalism, or frugality. For example, the movie The Boogeyman has been praised for its "austere unfussiness;" the ballet Monumentum Pro Gesualdo for its "austere beauty;" and the actor Patrick Page for his "austere dignity." The New York Times loves this word.

Finally, it's less common to talk about austere people and their austere moods, looks, and manners. People with austere personalities might be stern and harsh toward others, as in "an austere teacher who tolerates no giggling." Or they might be stern and harsh toward themselves, as in "an austere monk who owns very little and sleeps on a floor."

"The High Hall of the Arryns was long and austere, with a forbidding coldness to its walls of blue-veined white marble."   
  — George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones, 1996

"From the walls, the painted eyes of former Directors seemed to follow him, their faces austere, their lips unmoving." 
   — Traci Chee, The Reader, 2016

has this page helped you understand "austere"?

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If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "austere" without saying "no-frills" or "stern."

try it out:

As we've seen, "austere" has two different meanings when applied to people. Austere people are either harsh toward others, or harsh toward themselves.

For example, in Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, a narrator describes her austere family friend whose austerity is directed inward:

"Mr. Pirzada took off his shoes before entering a room, chewed fennel seeds after meals as a digestive, drank no alcohol, for dessert dipped austere biscuits into successive cups of tea."

As you can see, Mr. Pirzada is austere with himself: his lifestyle is austere, and so is his diet. It so happens that he's kind and indulgent toward the narrator: he's not austere toward her.

See if you can describe another a fictional character, or a real person, who lives an austere life or has an austere personality. Is this person's austerity directed outward or inward?

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Words On Words On Birds."

Use your knowledge of vocabulary to answer questions about the terminology describing names for birds.

Try this today:

Which bird name below is a trinomen?

A. Ostrich
B. Black-necked ostrich
C. South African ostrich
D. Struthio camelus australis

Need a hint? Highlight the hidden text: Consider the meaning of the prefix "tri-."

To see the answer, scroll all the way down. 

review this word:

1. The opposite of AUSTERE could be

A. LAZY or SLOW.
B. MODERN or HIGH-TECH.
C. SUMPTUOUS or EXTRAVAGANT.

2. From Mythology, by Edith Hamilton: "The contrast of this laughing, _____ beauty with the clear-cut, austere grandeur all around arrests the attention sharply."

A. natural
B. youthful
C. luxuriant

Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. C From the game: Which bird name below is a trinomen? A. Ostrich B. Black-necked ostrich C. South African ostrich D. Struthio camelus australis is the correct answer. A trinomen is a scientific name with a generic, specific, and subspecific name. Tricky, right? You knew from the "tri-" in "trinomen" that the name would have three parts, but you also had to recall that "binomens" are scientific names, the kind that look all Latiny and italicized.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.