# stark

Pronunciation: say "STARK" US /stɑɹk/, UK /stɑːk/

## Adjective

1. Plainly evident and impossible to overlook, and harsh, with nothing to soften it.
   - Simple: So clear that you cannot ignore it, and harsh, with nothing to make it gentler.
   - _The report paints a stark picture of the city's housing shortage._
   - _The gap between rich and poor neighborhoods has never been starker._
2. Severely plain or bare in appearance; barren and desolate.
   - Simple: Bare and empty, with nothing pretty or comfortable about it.
   - _Photographs of the stark lunar surface fascinated viewers around the world._
   - _The hospital corridor looked starker than she remembered, all gray walls and bare bulbs._
3. Complete, absolute, or full; total in extent or degree.
   - Simple: Complete and total, with nothing else mixed in.
   - _Witnesses described the stark terror on the passengers' faces._
   - _Abandoning the harvest now would be stark folly._

## Adverb

4. Entirely or absolutely, used to intensify an adjective that follows.
   - Simple: Completely and totally, with nothing left out.
   - _The hikers stripped and jumped stark naked into the lake._
   - _After three days without sleep, she felt stark raving mad._

## Adjective

5. Severe, violent, or fierce, now usually said of the weather. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Very strong and wild, used mostly about bad weather.
6. Strong, vigorous, or powerful, in archaic or poetic use. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Strong and powerful, found mostly in old stories and poems.
7. Hard and firm; of a person, obdurate and unyielding. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Hard and firm, or not willing to change or give in.

## Verb

8. To stiffen; to make or become stiff. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To make something stiff, or to become stiff.

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Naked; bare of clothing.
- (adjective) Stiff and rigid; unable to bend.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–7** — From Middle English 'stark', from Old English 'stearc' (stiff, rigid, hard, strong, severe), from Proto-Germanic *starkuz (stiff, strong) and ultimately a Proto-Indo-European root meaning rigid or stiff. It is related to 'starch' and cognate with Dutch 'sterk' and German 'stark' (strong).
**Meaning 8** — The verb ultimately comes from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning rigid or stiff. Its history runs through Proto-Germanic *starkōną, Old English stearcian (to stiffen, become hard), and Middle English starken. German erstarken (to strengthen) is a cognate.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/stark (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).