Definitions

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  • adjective superlative form of austere: most austere.

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Examples

  • The due performance of these eternal duties, viz., the worship of the gods, the study of the Vedas, and the gratification of the Pitris, as also regardful services unto the preceptors -- these are called the austerest of penances.

    The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 Kisari Mohan [Translator] Ganguli

  • There they were associated with the look and dress of a torrero, and our coachman, though an old Castilian of the austerest and most taciturn pattern, may have been in his gay youth an Andalusian bull-fighter.

    Familiar Spanish Travels 2004

  • He followed footprints that, as they approached the bourne, were sometimes marked in blood — followed them grimly, holding the austerest police-watch over the pain-pressed pilgrim.

    Villette 2003

  • But so it was, as great men and princes are said to call in their flatterers when dinner has been served, so the Athenians, upon slight occasions, entertained and diverted themselves with their spruce speakers and trim orators, but when it came to action, they were sober and considerate enough to single out the austerest and wisest for public employment, however much he might be opposed to their wishes and sentiments.

    The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Plutarch 2003

  • The moment, however, he published in octavo volumes a solid history, and appended to the bottom of each page the obscure authorities on which his narrative was founded, and which plainly exhibited the capacity of the brilliant declaimer to perform all the austerest duties of the drudge, his reputation marvellously increased among the most frigid and most exacting dispensers of praise.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 41, March, 1861 Various

  • The present volume, bright as it is in expression, is full of evidences that the author has submitted to the austerest requirements of his laborious profession; and if his opinions generally coincide with those which have been somewhat reluctantly adopted by the most eminent physicians of the age, it is certain that he has not jumped to his conclusions, but has reached them by patient and independent thought, study, and observation.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 46, August, 1861 Various

  • Sally still clinging to her sun-bonnet and her limp rose-colored skirts, an eternal requiem for the dead and gone complexion, lost the picturesqueness of the pioneer and ranked as universal qualities, admissible in the austerest setting.

    Judith of the Plains Marie Manning

  • And this woman, ever engaged in virtuous acts and the Agnihotra, and the austerest of penances, obtained

    The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 Books 1, 2 and 3 Kisari Mohan [Translator] Ganguli

  • Individually, he would much prefer to have been one of his own "Seven Vagabonds" rather than one of the austerest preachers of the primitive church of New England; but the austerest preacher of the primitive church of New England would have been more tender and considerate to a real Mr. Dimmesdale and a real

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 31, May, 1860 Various

  • That author speaks of "the austere and masculine virtues of Latin, the sincerity and brevity of Roman speech;" and Tacitus is, beyond any doubt, the strongest, the austerest, the most pregnant of all the Romans.

    The Reign of Tiberius, Out of the First Six Annals of Tacitus; With His Account of Germany, and Life of Agricola Caius Cornelius Tacitus

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