α. Middle English austerite, Middle English–1600s austeritie, 1500s austeryte, 1600s– austerity.
β. Middle English austernete.
austerityn.
/ɔːˈstɛrᵻti/, /ɒˈstɛrᵻti/, U.S. /ɔˈstɛrədi/, /ɑˈstɛrədi/ 1. † b. With reference to taste: astringent sourness or bitterness; harshness. Obsolete.
a. Sternness of manner, appearance, or disposition; severity in judgement; (esp. of a law or judgement) harshness, severity.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > strictness > [noun] > severity or sternness
rethenesseOE
grimness971
hardnessOE
sternhead1297
sharpnessa1325
reddoura1375
fiercetya1382
sternness1382
fiercenessc1384
sturdinessc1384
fellnessc1410
austeritya1425
raddourc1440
austerenessa1450
severity1530
cruelness1537
cruelty1556
severeness1579
tender mercies1611
piquancya1677
Draconianism1819
astringency1823
Draconism1832
hard-handedness1849
starkness1884
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > harshness or severity > [noun]
rethenesseOE
grimness971
sternhead1297
sharpnessa1325
reddoura1375
sternness1382
fiercenessc1384
sturdinessc1384
duressc1400
fellnessc1410
austeritya1425
harshnessc1480
roughness1530
severity1530
durity1543
ungentleness1548
severeness1579
ruggedness1638
atrocity1641
austereness1646
piquancya1677
Draconianism1819
astringency1823
Draconism1832
starkness1884
a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 5376 Þe gret austerite, Þat Crist sal shew þat day to se.
a1500 (c1380) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 471 Seculer prinsis..shulden teche to drede god by austernete & worldly drede.
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Matt. xi. f. 50/2 They that be not moued with austeritie and roughnes, be wonte to bee wonne by fayre speakyng and gentilnes.
1579 E. K. in E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Feb. Gloss. Dismayed at the grimnes and austeritie of his countenaunce.
1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie vii. f. 82 He mitigateth the austeritie of the sentence, when he saith, that Christ deliuered vs from the yoke of the law, that he might graft vs into his own body.
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. ii. xxvii. §5. 624 He..gaue presence..with such austeritie, that no man durst presume to spit or cough in his sight.
1625 J. Mayer Antidote Popery 18 The Lord not content with inward contrition, would haue it outwardly expressed also; such was the austeritie of the Law.
1685 J. Northleigh Triumph Monarchy vi. 680 Reducing them to Obedience, because of his austerity and cruel disposition.
1720 J. Ozell et al. tr. R. A. de Vertot Hist. Revol. Rom. Republic I. i. 47 Appius..could not help sowering the Usefulness of his Counsels with the Austerity of his Character.
1799 C. B. Brown Ormond xv. 179 Else, continued he, changing his affected austerity into a smile, Constance is a liar.
1836 E. Howard Rattlin, the Reefer I. xxii. 233 I must refer to Master James, or Master Frank, for the description of the austerity of his frown, or the awfulness of his rebuke.
1853 National Mag. Mar. 257/1 That deep and overwhelming sensibility which was united in Madame Guizot to the austerity of her judgment.
1883 J. F. Molloy Court Life below Stairs (ed. 2) III. vi. 227 If the princess assumed her rightful place, the cold austerity and somewhat ridiculous etiquette dear to the German heart of Her Majesty, must fall into disuse.
1921 P. G. Wodehouse Indiscretions of Archie v. 39 A certain relief seemed to temper the austerity of the other's gaze.
1941 Princeton Alumni Weekly 19 May 263/2 They have spoken to four walls and to a judge whose austerity varied in direct proportion to his loneliness.
2006 R. Donald Rich Man's Royal Mistress ii. 29 He leaned back like a king on his throne, and looked across at her, the austerity of his angular features increased by a trick of the firelight.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > taste and flavour > sourness or acidity > [noun] > astringency
stypticityc1400
ponticity?a1425
stypticnessc1425
harshnessc1480
stypticalness1528
austerity1634
restringency1659
austereness1668
1634 T. Johnson tr. A. Paré Chirurg. Wks. xxvi. vii. 1034 Acerbity and austerity.
1676 J. Beal in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 11 585 A wild black Plum..of no harsh or unpleasant austerity.
1718 J. Quincy Pharmacopœia Officinalis 80 Sage..has an Austerity upon the Palate.
1764 T. H. Croker et al. Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. I. at Austere An austere taste is such a one as constringes the mouth and tongue with some austerity; as the taste of unripe fruit.
1809 B. Parr London Med. Dict. I. 231/1 The roots have a little faint smell, but a sweetish taste, with a light austerity.
1864 Med. Times & Gaz. 12 Nov. 521/1 Very astringent; might be called austere. Austerity leaves an unpleasant earthy taste behind it.
c. With reference to the weather, landscape, etc.: harshness; ruggedness; bleakness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > bad weather > [noun] > condition of > severity
rigoura1525
rudeness1649
severitya1676
austerity1742
the world > the earth > land > ground > [noun] > hard > condition of being
austerity1817
1742 W. Ellis London & Country Brewer (ed. 4) ii. ix. 149 Before the Austerity of the Winter renders such a damp watery Place too chilly.
1781 T. Holcroft tr. Comtesse de Genlis Theatre of Educ. III. v. 129 Nature is more majestic, and impresses the mind with more awful ideas in Swisserland and Italy; but it is a beauty..whose rugged austerity approaches to harshness.
1817 Ld. Byron Manfred iii. iv. 33 Which soften'd down the hoar austerity Of rugged desolation.
1929 B. Carman Sanctuary 33 Northward the woods lie far and wide outspread In their wild peace, their gray austerity.
2010 Sunday Times (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 4 Apr. A landscape that has a beautiful austerity in the Cape autumn light.
2.
a. Severe self-denial or self-restraint; moral strictness; rigorous abstinence, asceticism.Chiefly in religious contexts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > asceticism > [noun]
sharpness1340
austerenessa1450
austerityc1450
rigourc1450
severity1481
severeness1579
asceticism1845
ascetism1850
c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1904) I. 147 (MED) His frendis..said vnto hym þat he myght not suffer þe austeritie of his ordur.
1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) Prol. sig. Aiv The commaundementes of Jhesu cryst after as he them hath declared and taught in louynge his pouerté, humylyte, and austeryte.
1570 L. Tomson Answere Assertions Fecknam f. 74v Now, touching ye austeritie of M. Gough, God make vs all ageinst vice austere, and not to flatter our selues in our concupiscences.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream i. i. 90 Or on Dianaes altar to protest, For aye, austeritie and single life. View more context for this quotation
1647 T. Hodges Growth & Spreading Hæresie 7 That which either by too much excesse and riotous courses ruines nature..: Or else on the contrary, by too much austerity and self-elected rigidity, sink in time the Body, and bring it the dust of death.
1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 524 This Prince..liv'd in this Convent with all the Rigor and Austerity of a Capucin.
1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 141. ⁋6 To dissipate the gloom of collegiate austerity.
1856 H. B. Stowe Dred II. xxvii. 274 The rigid austerity of his life.
1891 Church Times 4 Sept. 844/2 A Crossless Church, a religion without austerity, has never yet made headway.
1923 N.Y. Times 15 June 1/7 Members of the Fascisti..are prohibited from participating in banquets because ‘banquets are detrimental to the dignity of the Fascismo, which must be inspired by austerity’.
1925 Amer. Hist. Rev. 30 342 St. Benedict did not intend his monks to practise great bodily austerity.
1997 J. Bowker World Relig. 44/4 (caption) The four essentials or jewels of Jainism..are..Right Knowledge, Right Faith, Right Conduct, and Right Penance, or Austerity.
b. In plural. Severely abstinent or ascetic practices; mortifications (mortification n. 1).
ΚΠ
1579 S. Brinkley tr. G. Loarte Exercise Christian Life xix. f. 106 Hear-cloth, fasting, watching, and other like corporal austerities.
1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar i. iv. 129 Those austerities which Baals Priests did use.., an ignorant faction that went up and down villages whipping themselves.
1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity xviii. 69 Several other Antichristian Austerities.
1739 J. Wesley Jrnl. 28 Mar. in Extract of Jrnl. (1742) 30 By Holiness meaning, Not Fasting (as you seem to suppose) or Bodily Austerities.
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. iii. 257 Such austerities and labours of devotion, such a tastelessness of all innocent enjoyments.
1851 J. Stephen Lect. Hist. France II. xvii. 174 The cell and the austerities of an anchorite.
1888 ‘Bernard’ From World to Cloister v. 113 The corporal austerities which are known as ‘the discipline’.
1916 G. B. Shaw Androcles & Lion p. xx Saints amazed the world with their austerities and self-scourgings.
2002 R. Cohen By Sword ii. vii. 152 The samurai code—a fusion of Confucian philosophy, Shintoism, and the austerities of Zen.
3. Severe simplicity; lack of luxury or adornment.In early use with reference to the outward signs of self-denial (see sense 2a); in later use esp. with reference to simplicity in literature, architecture, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > good taste > simplicity > [noun]
plainness1549
austerity1581
simplicity1593
severity1713
simplex munditiis1740
chastity1760
chasteness1889
penny-plainness1920
sabi1932
wabi1934
understatement1967
1581 J. Nicholls Pilgrimage sig. H By meanes of their outwarde austeritie in apparrell, and foode, the people may proclaime them as Saintes, and honour them as Gods omnipotent.
1657 T. Aylesbury Treat. Confession of Sinne iii. 16 The subduing of the body with austerity of food, and rayment.
1753 World 28 June 155 This exquisite artist invented also a kind of darkening varnish, that might temper and chastise all dazzling splendor and unnecessary glare, and might give, as Pliny expresses it, a modesty and austerity to his works.
1789 tr. J.-F. de Bourgoing Trav. Spain I. 163 The whole edifice is built with hewn stone of a species of bastard granite, which by its colour, become brown with time, adds to the austerity of the building.
1833 J. H. Newman in Brit. Mag. 4 543 There they [sc. Ambrosian chants] are in use still, in all the majestic austerity which gave them their original power.
1875 Sunday Mag. June 586 The very bareness and austerity..was to the Gothic soldiers a proof of hidden treasure.
1921 Spectator 2 July 7/1 Imagine a poet whose mind was perfectly balanced between the desirability of gorgeous Swinburnesque ornament and Wordsworthian austerity.
1934 C. Lambert Music Ho! iii. 212 The blues have a certain austerity that places them far above the sweet nothings of George Gershwin.
1951 N. Pevsner Middlesex (Buildings of Eng.) 28 The interior has the austerity of a friars' church.
2000 Nova Nov. 34/2 Spurning the minimalist austerity of chic-shops past, The Apartment looks lived-in.
4. Restraint in public spending; spec. a programme of government measures designed to reduce public spending and conserve resources, esp. during a time of economic hardship; the conditions resulting from such measures.The term entered common use in 1942, and was frequently used in the context of rationing and other measures introduced by governments in the period during and after the Second World War (1939–45).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > retaining > sparingness or frugality > [noun] > saving or economizing > measure taken in war-time
salvage1918
war economy1919
austerity1937
1937 J. M. Keynes in Times 13 Jan. 13/6 The boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the Treasury.
1942 Manch. Guardian 26 Feb. 5/1 His [sc. Stafford Cripps's] declaration that the Government intended to treat the present grave situation with all the ‘seriousness and austerity’ it demands was loudly cheered.
1942 Economist 21 Mar. 384/1 There has been no word about the new government's attitude towards reconstruction and planning, for defence, production, and austerity have inevitably filled the stage.
1942 Times Weekly 2 Dec. 14/2 A General Limitation Order..which suggests that the United States have got quite a way on the road to austerity.
1965 N. Freeling Criminal Conversat. ii. xv. 169 England during the reign of Sir Stafford Cripps..with points and coupons and austerity.
1971 J. H. Love Rio Grande Do Sul & Brazilian Regionalism ix. 208 In a drive toward budgetary austerity, he abruptly terminated..[a] cherished northeast development program.
1975 Irish Times 23 Sept. 6/6 (headline) Austerity ahead for Finland.
1992 Mother Jones May 22/2 Trends in the economy itself have played the lead role in bringing about the new austerity.
2012 Daily Tel. 2 Mar. 15/1 The article takes a swipe at the multi-billion Olympic budget at a time of austerity.
2012 Independent 18 June 14/3 Germany is still far from isolated in calling for more austerity with no ifs and buts.
Compounds
General attributive with the sense ‘of, relating to, or suitable for a time of austerity (sense 4)’, as austerity budget, austerity clothing, austerity measures, austerity programme, etc. Cf. utility n. Compounds 3b(c).
ΚΠ
1942 Times 16 Mar. 7/1 It is clear from the new so-called austerity measures that stricter control of spending has an immediate part..in government policy.
1942 Times of India 31 Dec. 8/4 The first of a fleet of ‘austerity’ buses has just been completed in Britain... Fittings are kept to essentials and anything approaching luxury has been..cut out.
1944 Times 16 Feb. 8/3 Mr. Dalton..said that austerity clothing was not unsaleable. On the contrary, many men evidently thought that at 20 coupons austerity suits were a good bargain.
1951 R. A. Knox Stimuli iv. 9 There is a real humility in imitating a God who was born in a utility nursery, and laid in an austerity cradle to match it.
1968 Fortune Jan. 112/1 An austerity program calls for some belt-tightening by the government as well as by the citizenry.
2001 N.Y. Times 29 July i. 26/5 In Buffalo, the school system's associate superintendent for finance..called the austerity budget ‘a devastator’.
2010 Guardian 22 May (Money section) 1/1 Welcome to ‘austerity chic’.
2012 Independent 8 May 16/4 George Osborne tells Andrew Marr that he hears what the electorate is saying, but he is not prepared to review his austerity measures.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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