austere
/ɔˈstiɹ/ adjective C2- Grim or severe in manner or appearance. · The headmistress was an austere old woman.
- Lacking decoration; trivial; not extravagant or gaudy.
- Adhering to the economic policy of austerity.
- Harsh; astringent.
Comparative austerer · Superlative austerest
From the library
At his heels came our old friend Lestrade, of Scotland Yard—thin and austere.
Swiftly and methodically Holmes turned over the contents of drawer after drawer and cupboard after cupboard, but no gleam of success came to brighten his austere face.
I was finishing this little analysis of the case when the door was opened and the austere figure of the great dermatologist was ushered in.
The door opened to admit a thin, austere figure with a hatchet face and drooping mid-Victorian whiskers of a glossy blackness which hardly corresponded with the rounded shoulders and feeble gait.
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