Stern

Quick meaning: Stern is an adjective meaning Having a hardness and severity of nature or manner.

Meaning

Having a hardness and severity of nature or manner.

More Meanings

1. Grim and forbidding in appearance.
2. (nautical) The rear part (after end) of a ship or other vessel.
3. (figurative) The post of management or direction.
4. The hinder part of anything.
5. The tail of an animal; now used only of the tail of a dog.
6. (ambitransitive, nautical) To propel or move backward or stern-first in the water.
7. (obsolete, ambitransitive) To steer, to direct the course of (a ship).

Example Sentences

Holonyms: watercraft < vessel

stern as tutors, and as uncles hard

and sit chiefest stern of public weal

these barren rocks, your stern inheritance

Word Forms

• sterner
• sternest
• sterne
• sterns
• sterning
• sterned

Synonyms for stern

Depending on context, synonyms include brutal, callous, cold, cold-eyed, cruel, dour.

Antonyms for stern

Common opposites include animated, cheerful, emotional, empathic, gregarious, kindly.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include austere, demanding, strict, grim, exacting, unforgiving.

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