'Sterner' definitions:
Definition of 'Sterner'
From: GCIDE
- Stern \Stern\, a. [Compar. Sterner; superl. Sternest.] [OE. sterne, sturne, AS. styrne; cf. D. stuurish stern, Sw. stursk refractory. [root]166.] Having a certain hardness or severity of nature, manner, or aspect; hard; severe; rigid; rigorous; austere; fixed; unchanging; unrelenting; hence, serious; resolute; harsh; as, a sternresolve; a stern necessity; a stern heart; a stern gaze; a stern decree. [1913 Webster]
- The sterne wind so loud gan to rout. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- I would outstare the sternest eyes that look. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Stern as tutors, and as uncles hard. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- These barren rocks, your stern inheritance. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster]
- Syn: Gloomy; sullen; forbidding; strict; unkind; hard-hearted; unfeeling; cruel; pitiless. [1913 Webster]