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Rigid vs Austere - What's the difference?

rigid | austere | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between rigid and austere

is that rigid is stiff, rather than flexible while austere is grim or severe in manner or appearance.

rigid

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Stiff, rather than flexible.
  • Fixed, rather than moving.
  • * 2011 ,David Foster Wallace, The Pale King ,Penguin Books, page 5:
    • A sunflower, four more, one bowed, and horses in the distance standing rigid and still as toys.
  • Rigorous and unbending.
  • Uncompromising.

    • Synonyms

    * unbending, inflexible

    Antonyms

    * flexible * moving * compromising

    Derived terms

    * rigidity * rigidly * rigidness

    Related terms

    * rigor * rigour

    References

    * *

    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