Word.ws English Dictionary

austereness

austereness noun: harshness or astringent sourness to the taste; acerbity.

Noun

austereness (uncountable)

  1. harshness or astringent sourness to the taste; acerbity.
  2. severity; strictness; austerity.
    • VVho will beleeue thee Iſabell? / My vnſoild name, th' auſteereneſſe of my life, / My vouch againſt you, and my place i'th State, / VVill ſo your accuſation ouer-vveigh, / That you ſhall ſtifle in your ovvne report, / And ſmell of calumnie.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

Origin of austereness

From austere + -ness.

Questions about austereness

What does austereness mean?
Austereness means harshness or astringent sourness to the taste; acerbity.
What part of speech is austereness?
Austereness is a noun.

Words near austereness in the dictionary

  1. AUSTEO
  2. auster
  3. Austerberry
  4. austere
  5. austerely
  6. austereness
  7. austerer
  8. austerest
  9. austerian
  10. austerianism
  11. austerians

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: austereness (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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