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{%type%} Definitions

WordNet 3.0Copyright Princeton University
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n. - Uncompromising resolution; The quality (as of scenery) being grim and gloomy and forbidding.

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Usage examples (36)
  • The sternness of his surroundings made him uncomfortable
  • A poor unhappy fool that can not face life's sternness, that is crying out to escape his duty!
  • The sternness is a definite act and I don’t think I did misread him.
  • Yet she said this with a kind of sternness that somehow belied it — a click of the voice, as it were.
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The Open Dictionary of English is a collaborative project, based on Open Source materials, LearnThat resources, and partner APIs.
We give special thanks to our LearnThat volunteers, as well as Princeton University and Wiktionary for their Open Source word data. We're also grateful for the support given by Google, Wordnik.com, Dictionary.com, Stands4.com and YouTube, OEDILF.com, Kylescholz.com, Best-Practice.com, Forvo.com, as well as the generous Creative Commons community.