Definition for

austere

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adjective: practicing self-denial

His lifestyle of revelry and luxurious excess could hardly be called austere.

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adjective: unadorned in style or appearance

Late Soviet architecture, although remaining largely austere, moved into experimental territory that employed previously unused shapes and structures.

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adjective: harsh in manner of temperament

The principal of my elementary school was a cold, austere woman; I could never understand why she chose to work with children.

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