stark

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stark

(stärk)

adj. stark·er, stark·est

1. Clearly distinguished or delineated: a stark contrast.

a. Bare, desolate, or unadorned: an apartment with stark white walls; the stark beauty of the desert landscape.

b. Severe or unmitigated; harsh or grim: "[They] found it hard to accept such a stark portrait of unrelieved failure" (W. Bruce Lincoln).

3. Complete or utter; extreme: stark disbelief.

adv.

Utterly; entirely: stark raving mad.

[Middle English, stiff, severe, strong, from Old English stearc; see ster- in Indo-European roots.]

stark′ly adv.

stark′ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

stark

(stɑːk)

adj

1. (usually prenominal) devoid of any elaboration; blunt: the stark facts.

2. grim; desolate: a stark landscape.

3. (usually prenominal) utter; absolute: stark folly.

4. archaic severe; violent

5. archaic or poetic rigid, as in death (esp in the phrase stiff and stark)

6. short for stark-naked

adv

completely: stark mad; stark dead.

[Old English stearc stiff; related to Old Norse sterkr, Gothic gastaurknan to stiffen]

ˈstarkly adv

ˈstarkness n

Stark

1. (Biography) Dame Freya (Madeline) (ˈfreɪə). 1893–1993, British traveller and writer, whose many books include The Southern Gates of Arabia (1936), Beyond Euphrates (1951), and The Journey's Echo (1963)

2. (Biography) Johannes (joˈhanəs). 1874–1957, German physicist, who discovered the splitting of the lines of a spectrum when the source of light is subjected to a strong electrostatic field (Stark effect, 1913): Nobel prize for physics 1919

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

stark

(stɑrk)

adj. -er, -est,
adv. adj.

1. sheer, utter, downright, or complete: stark madness.

2. harsh, grim, or desolate, as a view or place.

3. extremely simple or severe: a stark interior.

4. bluntly or sternly plain: the stark reality of our situation.

5. sharply or harshly distinct: a stark contrast.

6. stiff or rigid, as in death.

7. Archaic. powerful; massive or robust.

adv.

8. utterly, absolutely, or quite: stark mad.

[before 900; (adj.) Middle English; Old English stearc stiff, firm, c. Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old High German stark, Old Norse sterkr strong]

stark′ly, adv.

stark′ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.	1.	stark - devoid of any qualifications or disguise or adornment; "the blunt truth"; "the crude facts"; "facing the stark reality of the deadline" blunt, crude unconditional, unconditioned - not conditional; "unconditional surrender"
	2.	stark - severely simple; "a stark interior" austere, severe, stern plain - not elaborate or elaborated; simple; "plain food"; "stuck to the plain facts"; "a plain blue suit"; "a plain rectangular brick building"
	3.	stark - complete or extreme; "stark poverty"; "a stark contrast" immoderate - beyond reasonable limits; "immoderate laughter"; "immoderate spending"
	4.	stark - without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers; "an arrant fool"; "a complete coward"; "a consummate fool"; "a double-dyed villain"; "gross negligence"; "a perfect idiot"; "pure folly"; "what a sodding mess"; "stark staring mad"; "a thoroughgoing villain"; "utter nonsense"; "the unadulterated truth" arrant, double-dyed, sodding, utter, perfect, pure, staring, thoroughgoing, unadulterated, everlasting, consummate, complete, gross unmitigated - not diminished or moderated in intensity or severity; sometimes used as an intensifier; "unmitigated suffering"; "an unmitigated horror"; "an unmitigated lie"
	5.	stark - providing no shelter or sustenance; "bare rocky hills"; "barren lands"; "the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes"; "the desolate surface of the moon"; "a stark landscape" barren, desolate, bleak, bare inhospitable - unfavorable to life or growth; "the barren inhospitable desert"; "inhospitable mountain areas"
Adv.	1.	stark - completely; "stark mad"; "mouth stark open"

stark

adjective

1. plain, simple, harsh, basic, bare, grim, straightforward, blunt, bald The stark truth is that we are paying more now than we ever were.

2. sharp, clear, striking, graphic, distinct, clear-cut, clearly delineated in stark contrast

3. austere, severe, plain, bare, harsh, unadorned the stark, white, characterless fireplace in the drawing room

4. bleak, grim, barren, hard, cold, depressing, dreary, desolate, forsaken, godforsaken, drear (literary) a stark landscape of concrete, wire and utility equipment

5. absolute, pure, sheer, utter, downright, patent, consummate, palpable, out-and-out, flagrant, unmitigated, unalloyed, arrant They are motivated, he said, by stark fear.

adverb

1. absolutely, quite, completely, clean, entirely, altogether, wholly, utterly I gasped again. He must have gone stark staring mad.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

stark

adjective

Cold and forbidding:

austere, bleak, dour, grim, hard, harsh, severe.

Translations

صَارِمقَوي، شَديد

pustýsilnýstrohýtuhýtvrdý

bartskarp

kahl krass

έρημος χτυπητός

inhóspito

karu

absolument austère catégorique désert désolé

strog

kopár

hrjóstrugur

austero comple-completo desolato

がらんとした

황량한

nuogut nuogutėlisvisai išprotėjęs

kailsneauglīgsnoplicinātstuksnešains

skarp

รุนแรง

çıplak ıssız katı

khắc nghiệt

刻板的明显的赤裸裸的

stark

[stɑːk]

A. ADJ (starker (compar) (starkest (superl)))

1. (= austere) [simplicity, colour, beauty, décor, outline] → austero; [conditions] → severo, duro; [landscape] → inhóspito; [description] → escueto, sucinto

2. (= harsh) [reality, poverty] → crudo, sin adornos; [choice, warning, reminder] → duro
those are the stark facts of the matter → ésa es la cruda realidad del asunto

3. (= absolute) [terror, folly] → absoluto
to be in stark contrast to sth → contrastar brutalmente con algo

B. ADV stark staring or raving mad → loco de remate
stark naked → en cueros, en pelotas, encuerado (LAm) , pilucho (Chile) , calato (Peru, Bol)

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

stark

[ˈstɑː^rk]

adj

(= austere) [landscape, hills] → désolé(e); [colour] → morne; [room] → austère; [beauty, simplicity] → austère

(= harsh) [reality] → sombre before n; [poverty] → extrême; [choice] → douloureux/euse; [warning, reminder] → sévère
UK companies face a stark choice if they are to stay competitive → Les entreprises britanniques doivent faire face à un choix douloureux si elles veulent rester compétitives.
to issue a stark warning → lancer un sévère avertissement
He issued a stark warning to Washington and other Western Capitals → Il a lancé un sévère avertissement à Washington et aux autres capitales occidentales., Il a adressé un sévère rappel à l'ordre à Washington et aux autres capitales occidentales.

(= vivid) [contrast, difference] → frappant(e)
in stark contrast to → en contraste frappant avec

adv
stark naked → complètement nu(e)

stark

adj (+er) realism, contrast, ignorance, poverty, warning → krass; reality, truth, terror, fact → nackt; clothing, simplicity → schlicht; madness → rein, schier, hell; reminder, message also → überdeutlich; choice, silhouette → hart; landscape, cliffs, branches → nackt, kahl; light bulb → grell; colour → eintönig; (= glaring) → grell; black → trist; white → nackt; in stark terms → in harten Worten, unverblümt

adv stark raving or staring mad (inf) → total verrückt (inf); stark naked → splitter(faser)nackt (inf)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

stark

[stɑːk]

1. adj (-er (comp) (-est (superl))) (outline) → aspro/a; (landscape) → desolato/a; (simplicity, colour) → austero/a; (contrast) → forte; (reality, poverty, truth) → crudo/a

2. adv stark staring or raving mad → matto/a da legare
stark naked → nudo/a come un verme

stark

(staːk) adjective

bare, harsh or simple in a severe way. a stark, rocky landscape.

stark crazy/mad

completely mad.

stark naked

(of a person) completely naked.

stark

→ صَارِم strohý skarp krass χτυπητός inhóspito karu catégorique strog austero がらんとした 황량한 grimmig fullstendig surowy rígido голый skarp รุนแรง katı khắc nghiệt 刻板的

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References in classic literature ?

He brought up a card, too, with the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it.

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I had blown out the candle; and the mere thought of Queequeg--not four feet off --sitting there in that uneasy position, stark alone in the cold and dark; this made me really wretched.

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And the cavalry, with spurs and sabers urging on horses that could scarcely move, trotted with much effort to the column presented to them- that is to say, to a crowd of Frenchmen stark with cold, frost-bitten, and starving- and the column that had been presented to them threw down its arms and surrendered as it had long been anxious to do.

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And the stark and staring eyes: And with laughter loud they heaped the shroud

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In brief, I lost my fine faiths in pretty well everything except humanity, and the humanity I retained faith in was a very stark humanity indeed.

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She came at once upon a handsomely engraved and colored frontispiece -- a hu- man figure, stark naked.

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He consented, and I immediately stripped myself stark naked, and went down softly into the stream.

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Matters were going on thus pleasantly and prosperously, in this motley community of white and red men, when, one morning, two stark free trappers, arrayed in the height of savage finery, and mounted on steeds as fine and as fiery as themselves, and all jingling with hawks' bells, came galloping, with whoop and halloo, into the camp.

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Now and then a stark Kentucky hunter, in leathern hunting-dress, with rifle on shoulder and knife in belt, strode along.

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And you like Beaufort because he's so unlike us." He looked about the bare room and out at the bare beach and the row of stark white village houses strung along the shore.

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I cannot feel friendly toward my quondam fellow-American, Napoleon III., especially at this time,--[July, 1867.]--when in fancy I see his credulous victim, Maximilian, lying stark and stiff in Mexico, and his maniac widow watching eagerly from her French asylum for the form that will never come--but I do admire his nerve, his calm self-reliance, his shrewd good sense.

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She was suckling a new-born child, and another child, stark naked, was playing at her feet.