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Austere vs Penurious - What's the difference?

austere | penurious |

As adjectives the difference between austere and penurious

is that austere is austere while penurious is miserly; excessively cheap.

austere

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Grim or severe in manner or appearance
    • The headmistress was an austere old woman.
  • Lacking trivial decoration; not extravagant or gaudy
    • 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, unembellished

    Antonyms

    * (not lacking trivial decoration) overwrought, flamboyant, extravagant, gaudy, flashy

    Derived terms

    * austerity * austerely

    penurious

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Miserly; excessively cheap.
    • The old man died a penurious wretch; eighty-thousand dollars in the mattress and as many holes in the roof.
  • Not bountiful; thin; scant.
    • The penurious stew would have been more accurately labelled broth.
  • Impoverished; wanting for money.
    • The poor penurious horde, naught in the cooking pot and naught in the belly.

    Synonyms

    * See also * See also

    Antonyms

    * See also

    Related terms

    * penury