How to Use austere in a Sentence

austere

adjective
  • They lived an austere life in the country.
  • He was known for his austere style of writing.
  • They choose austere furnishings for the office.
  • In this austere, arid world, brown was the coin of the realm.
    — David Kelly, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2019
  • The shrines themselves are austere and hard to see from the pathways.
    — The Washington Post, The Denver Post, 23 Feb. 2017
  • The space is austere and solemn, with beige walls and icy climate control.
    — David Maurice Smith, Smithsonian, 23 Aug. 2019
  • The store, the brand’s first outside Japan, is calm and austere.
    — New York Times, 22 Apr. 2021
  • Sometimes modernism can be a bit cold and austere, but this wasn’t like that.
    — The Editors Of Ad, Architectural Digest, 7 Feb. 2025
  • If there is one way to avoid a dining room that is cold and austere, get some cool old knick knacks.
    — Leilani Marie Labong, SFChronicle.com, 13 Mar. 2020
  • Unless designed with care, xeriscapes can look bare and austere.
    — Lee Wallender, The Spruce, 30 Apr. 2026
  • But here, the landscape is dry, austere, spectral.
    — Jesse Hyde, Rolling Stone, 7 Aug. 2025
  • The opening looks were austere by design.
    — ABC News, 9 Mar. 2026
  • After a while, a sort of austere survival instinct kicked in for me.
    — Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 22 June 2026
  • Vouvray can range from dry to off-dry to rich and austere and can age for a century.
    — Johnny Noakes, Hartford Courant, 11 Aug. 2024
  • This building was very austere as far as the color palette.
    — Kenneth R. Gosselin, Hartford Courant, 1 June 2026
  • Canaletto was a Venetian artist known for his austere cityscapes.
    — Julia Binswanger, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 May 2024
  • If all of that sounds like a drag, obligatory and austere, don’t worry.
    — Christina Tkacik, baltimoresun.com, 4 Dec. 2019
  • Above, a small murder of austere crows clings to her chandelier.
    — Ruby King, WSJ, 14 Oct. 2021
  • That trade-off means dealmakers will earn more in boom years and take a harder hit in austere times.
    — Dawn Lim, Fortune, 12 Feb. 2024
  • The austere room is lined by wood panels from the floor to about the high walls' midpoint and then plain white walls above.
    — Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY, 1 May 2024
  • The 4% rule of retirement puts you on an austere budget in your leisure years.
    — Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 30 Dec. 2025
  • Looking at this room of Matisses, this is one of the more austere ones.
    — New York Times, 17 June 2019
  • The sauce has an austere beefiness to it, with a sharp bitter bite and plenty of chile heat.
    — Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2023
  • Most of the jails are austere, even by the grim standards of detention centers.
    — Jack Herrera, The New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2025
  • In the age-old battle between the austere and the lavish, sometimes more is just more.
    — Sadie Stein, ELLE Decor, 23 May 2018
  • Withers’s sound reaches back to the austere roots of the blues and country music.
    — Reginald Dwayne Betts Kiese Makeba Laymon Carina Del Valle Schorske Dessa Irina Aleksander Sam Dolnick Mark Binelli Maggie Jones Rob Hoerburger Jamie Lauren Keiles Devin Gordon Jazmine Hughes Jenna Wortham Jade Chang Taffy Brodesser-Akner Kaitlyn Greenidge Rowan Ricardo Phillips Michael Paterniti Wesley Morris Ismail Muhammad Anthony Giardina, New York Times, 23 Dec. 2020
  • The Venetian blinds on the windows also felt austere to them.
    — Julia Zaltzman, Robb Report, 7 Apr. 2023
  • The food is beautiful and simple, the rooms are quiet and austere.
    — Marshall Heyman, WSJ, 26 Apr. 2018
  • The show itself maintained the austere tone of the Mueller report.
    — Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker, 1 July 2019
  • This marabou clutch, in the color of a creamsicle, demands a good time when paired with austere black.
    — Rebecca Ramsey, The Cut, 11 Jan. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'austere.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: