austere
severe, plain, strict, or without comfort
Root
- auster: harsh, dry, severe, or plain
Other words with the auster root
- austerity: severe plainness or strict economy
Austere feels stripped down: no softness, no ornament, no extra comfort.
The professor’s austere office had one desk, one chair, and no decoration.
Austere has a dry, harsh plainness. Picture a bare room, a severe face, a strict budget, or a style with every extra cut away.
It can overlap with ascetic, but the histories feel different. Austere is plain severity; ascetic is trained self-denial.