starkly

[ stahrk-lee ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adverb

in a harsh, grim, or desolate way:
Working in the slums confronted us starkly with the sufferings of others.
extremely simply, sparely, or austerely:
Even in wealthier households, bedrooms were starkly furnished, with just a bed and perhaps a chair and a small table.
in a blunt or sternly plain way, without softening:
To put it more starkly, your great-grandmother was a common criminal.
in a way that is highly contrastive; distinctly or sharply:
The case presents two starkly different views of mobile device targeting by advertisers.
completely or utterly; downright:
We both know that it's starkly impossible to hide an operation as big as that from a spy system as good as theirs.

Origin of starkly¹

First recorded before 900; stark ( def ) + -ly ( def )

It reveals starkly what we are up against when it comes to Erdoğan.

There are neat stacks of femurs and units that contain whole bodies, still intact and starkly white.

“We are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities”—a perhaps admirable but starkly utopian goal.

But Jones, like most outrage-provoking commentators, starkly divides opinion.

The terrain is at once starkly modern, and strangely retro in a pre-feminism Mad Men sort of way.

The brassy noonday fervor, blazing from an unclouded sky, starkly revealed every detail.

His very deficiencies bring out starkly certain qualities that lurk suppressed and hidden in us all.

He folded his arms and rose starkly from the chair, his beard all a-bristle, his deep little eyes glaring.

Starkly exposed and black under the foot of these cliffs were the mouths of several caves.

He knew starkly that this time he would have to go through with a killing, or else give up this line of research.

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