1
as in sacrifice
voluntary restraint in the satisfaction of one's appetites
They moved off the grid to live a life of austerity.
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in gruffness
the quality or state of being stern and serious in manner or appearance
His air of austerity tends to put others off.
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in misery
the state of lacking sufficient money or material possessions
His family spent years living in austerity during the recession.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of austerity
While the grid’s numbered fill and rigid borders may give the impression of austerity, sudoku is, at its root, a simple game of pattern recognition.
—
Elie Levine, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
Amaranth adds that in past periods of austerity, government employment has declined by 4,000 to 10,000 per month.
—Nerdwallet, Orange County Register, 20 Mar. 2025
But the austerity hawks in the House Freedom Caucus sound unlikely to settle for anything less than dramatic, economy-warping spending cuts in the very areas that the moderates will want to defend.
—Mark Davis, Newsweek, 14 Mar. 2025
Demands for fiscal austerity and higher interest rates as economies crashed didn’t age well.
—William Pesek, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for austerity
Elie Levine, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
Amaranth adds that in past periods of austerity, government employment has declined by 4,000 to 10,000 per month.
—Nerdwallet, Orange County Register, 20 Mar. 2025
But the austerity hawks in the House Freedom Caucus sound unlikely to settle for anything less than dramatic, economy-warping spending cuts in the very areas that the moderates will want to defend.
—Mark Davis, Newsweek, 14 Mar. 2025
Demands for fiscal austerity and higher interest rates as economies crashed didn’t age well.
—William Pesek, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for austerity
Recent Examples of Synonyms for austerity
Noun
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Their sacrifices and bravery were foundational to the nation’s independence, and acknowledging their stories ensures a more inclusive and accurate portrayal of American history.—
Will Minter,
Hartford Courant,
26 Mar. 2025
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There were also animal sacrifices that involved smell.—
James Doubek,
NPR,
25 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Life was good, especially after the last three seasons of misery, when games at this time of year were meaningless aside from their impact on the draft lottery.—
Arpon Basu,
New York Times,
12 Apr. 2025
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For civilians, the unrelenting misery of the last 18 months has just got a lot worse – especially as no aid has entered Gaza for six weeks.—
Tim Lister and Oren Liebermann,
CNN Money,
12 Apr. 2025
Noun
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In East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland, ministries dictated curricula, Marxism-Leninism became mandatory across disciplines, and admissions were reengineered to favor students from loyalist backgrounds.—
Iveta Silova,
The Conversation,
9 Apr. 2025
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Ritchey sees the fantastic as the foil to the Germanic Bildungsroman, which influenced continental Romantic arts across disciplines.—
Angelica Frey,
JSTOR Daily,
9 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The bout of asceticism didn’t deter her from finishing a quarter of the album, however.—
Arimeta Diop,
Vulture,
24 Jan. 2025
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Louise tells tales of drunkenness, asceticism, death.—
Hervé Guibert,
Harper's Magazine,
2 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Midway through the film, an I.E.D. explodes just outside the apartment building, and the sequence that follows, in which the survivors gradually regain consciousness, is a tour de force of sensory deprivation and temporal dislocation.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
4 Apr. 2025
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While some hardship builds character, suffering extreme deprivation does not guarantee success.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
3 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The chance that American attacks on Houthis could prompt attacks on Saudi Arabia and a renewal of the kingdom’s brutal war in Yemen was a chief concern of the Biden administration, a prime reason that White House operated with a degree of restraint in its strikes on Houthi targets.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
26 Mar. 2025
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Sullivan, 56, was charged with first-degree unlawful restraint, cruelty to persons and first-degree reckless endangerment.—
Livi Stanford,
Hartford Courant,
25 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Type 2 diabetes treatments can vary based on the severity of your condition, your lifestyle, and your overall health.—
Julia Ries,
Health,
9 Apr. 2025
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In some studies, Vitamin A has been shown to reduce the severity of measles and the risk of death from the virus — but these studies were among highly malnourished populations in low-income countries.—
Sara Moniuszko,
CBS News,
8 Apr. 2025
Noun
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National chain restaurants file for bankruptcy On The Border is the latest national chain to close restaurants amid bankruptcy.—
Renee Umsted,
Charlotte Observer,
11 Mar. 2025
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The parent company of satirical newspaper The Onion bought Infowars through a bankruptcy auction in November, but a Texas judge nixed that deal in December, citing a lack of transparency.—
Brian Niemietz,
New York Daily News,
11 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Austerity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/austerity. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.
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