Starkness

noun

noun ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state or quality of being stark. uncountable

    "In the morning the framed photograph of the two of them, hanging on the sitting-room wall, was gone. The patch of wall where it had been hanging a hurtful rectangle of dusty starkness."

  2. 2
    an extreme lack of furnishings or ornamentation wordnet
  3. 3
    The result or product of being stark. countable
  4. 4
    the quality of being complete or utter or extreme wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
absolutenessausteritybarenessbarenesscandordirectness

Example

More examples

"In the morning the framed photograph of the two of them, hanging on the sitting-room wall, was gone. The patch of wall where it had been hanging a hurtful rectangle of dusty starkness."

Etymology

From Middle English starknes, starkenes, starkenesse, equivalent to stark + -ness.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.