Austere vs Gaunt - What's the difference?
austere | gaunt |
Grim or severe in manner or appearance
Lacking trivial decoration; not extravagant or gaudy
lean, angular and bony
* {{quote-book
, year=1894
, author=Joseph Jacobs
, title=The Fables of Aesop
, chapter=1
haggard, drawn and emaciated
* {{quote-book
, year=1917
, author=Arthur Conan Doyle
, title=His Last Bow
, chapter=5
bleak, barren and desolate
* {{quote-book
, year=1908
, author=William Hope Hodgson
, title=The House on the Borderland
, chapter=14
As adjectives the difference between austere and gaunt
is that austere is austere while gaunt is lean, angular and bony.austere
English
Adjective
(en-adj)- The headmistress was an austere old woman.
- The interior of the church was as austere as the parishioners were dour.
Synonyms
* (grim or severe) stern, strict, forbidding * (lacking trivial decoration) simple, plain, unadorned, unembellishedAntonyms
* (not lacking trivial decoration) overwrought, flamboyant, extravagant, gaudy, flashyDerived terms
* austerity * austerelygaunt
English
Alternative forms
* (l) * (l) (Scotland)Adjective
(er)citation, passage=A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by.}}
citation, passage=In the dim light of a foggy November day the sick room was a gloomy spot, but it was that gaunt , wasted face staring at me from the bed which sent a chill to my heart.}}
citation, passage=Behind me, rose up, to an extraordinary height, gaunt , black cliffs. }}