'austere' definitions:

Severely simple; "a stark interior" [syn: austere, severe, stark, stern]

Of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor; forbidding in aspect; "an austere expression"; "a stern face" [syn: austere, stern]

Practicing great self-denial; "Be systematically ascetic...do...something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it"- William James; "a desert nomad's austere life"; "a spartan diet"; "a spartan existence" [syn: ascetic, ascetical, austere, spartan]