austere

Synonyms
4. Austere, bleak, spartan, stark all suggest lack of ornament or adornment and of a feeling of comfort or warmth. Austere usually implies a purposeful avoidance of luxury or ease: simple, stripped-down, austere surroundings. Bleak adds a sense of forbidding coldness, hopelessness, depression: a bleak, dreary, windswept plain. Spartan somewhat more forceful than austere, implies stern discipline and rigorous, even harsh, avoidance of all that is not strictly functional: a life of Spartan simplicity. Stark shares with bleak a sense of grimness and desolation: the stark cliff face.

Antonyms
4. luxurious, comfortable, lush; sybaritic.

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Link To austere

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Austere is a GRE word you need to know.

So is ameliorate. Does it mean:

having or showing acute mental discernment and keen practical sense; shrewd:

to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory; improve; meliorate.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

austere (ɒˈstɪə)

—*adj*
1.	stern or severe in attitude or manner: an austere schoolmaster
2.	grave, sober, or serious: an austere expression
3.	self-disciplined, abstemious, or ascetic: an austere life
4.	severely simple or plain: an austere design

[C14: from Old French austère, from Latin austērus sour, from Greek austēros astringent; related to Greek hauein to dry]

aus'terely

—*adv*

aus'tereness

—n

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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

austere

early 14c., from L. austerus "dry, harsh, sour, tart," from Gk. austeros "bitter, harsh," especially "making the tongue dry" (originally used of fruits, wines), related to auos "dry," auein "to dry" (see aurora). Use in English is figurative: "stern, severe, very simple."

Example sentences

Decades ago a public library was an austere place, about as lively as a

cemetery.

Beyond that, he's not planning on any big changes in his austere lifestyle.

But in austere times, even the rich and famous dial it down.

The interior is a bit austere.

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formal hard monastic piety postmodern puritanical

Matching Quote

"A broad consensus exists that Lincoln was more eloquent than Davis in expressing war aims, more successful in communicating with the people, more skillful as a political leader in keeping factions working together for the war effort, better able to endure criticism and work with his critics to achieve a common goal. Lincoln was flexible, pragmatic, with a sense of humor to smooth relationships and help him survive the stress of his job; Davis was austere, rigid, humorless, with the type of personality that readily made enemies. Lincoln had a strong physical constitution; Davis suffered ill health and was frequently prostrated with illness. Lincoln picked good administrative subordinates (with some exceptions) and knew how to delegate authority to them; Davis went through five secretaries of war in four years; he spent a great deal of time and energy on petty administrative details that he should have left to subordinates. A disputatious man, Davis sometimes seemed to prefer winning an argument to winning the war; Lincoln was happy to lose an argument if it would help him win the war."

-Gabor S. Boritt