austerity

noun

Definition of austeritynext
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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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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3
as in deprivation
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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of austerity All the austerity options—cutting spending, reforming entitlements, or raising taxes are measures politicians are reluctant to embrace before an election. — Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2026 Backers of the Amendment 3 proposal say the tax cuts would force local governments to reduce spending in a meaningful way without the kind of austerity that would mean rollbacks in public safety or other core services. — Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2026 When faced with paying the real cost of AI, a lot of businesses that were extremely bullish immediately started talking about austerity measures. — Jack Holmes, Vanity Fair, 1 Sep. 2026 According to Strategas, once US debt-servicing costs, as a percentage of tax revenues, rise above 14%, there tends to be fiscal strain and austerity. — Bill Stone, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for austerity
Recent Examples of Synonyms for austerity
  1. sacrifice
  2. gruffness
  3. deprivation
  4. discipline
  5. asceticism
  6. misery
  7. restraint
  8. severity
Noun
  • Campbell cautioned that this doesn’t mean that the hundreds of other burials in these areas were also victims of human sacrifice.
    — Jack Guy, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Travis Roy Rogers plays Darrel Curtis, the eldest who has been forced to take on a parental role and is starting to resent all his unappreciated sacrifices.
    — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of sacrifice
Noun
  • Mackay and Turner are both excellent, two movie stars who seem totally game to be asked to move with real gruffness.
    — Sam Bodrojan, IndieWire, 17 June 2026
  • But then Popper smiled and the arrival of opening day momentarily mellowed his gruffness.
    — Andrew Carter, Chicago Tribune, 26 Mar. 2026
Definition of gruffness
Noun
  • Ah yes—in addition to memorizing lines and choreography, Hiddleston and Atwell were both reckoning with sleep deprivation and toddler tantrums.
    — Zing Tsjeng, Vogue, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Nor did the study show that exercise restores attention, reaction time, judgment or the many other functions impaired by sleep deprivation.
    — Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of deprivation
Noun
  • At the event, 20 experts from a variety of disciplines crowded into a room in a Fort Lauderdale hotel and tried to address the growing concern of rising carbon-dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The academies hire civilian faculty to offer expertise in topics and disciplines that military officers don’t study as part of their careers, such as English and the humanities.
    — Annie Ma, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of discipline
Noun
  • In the face of fresh crisis, belief veered towards asceticism and sometimes mysticism.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 July 2026
  • Just books and plays, and an asceticism associated with the priests Jim would often play.
    — Carl Kurlander, Deadline, 13 June 2026
Definition of asceticism
Noun
  • Cubs fans generally don’t care about the Sox, so their misery was focused solely on their team’s no-show performance at Petco Park.
    — Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The origin story helps contextualize the misery and self-isolation of Cathy’s later years, as the madam of a Salinas whorehouse.
    — Alison Herman, Variety, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of misery
Noun
  • The African Union urged Ethiopia and its neighbors to exercise restraint as growing tensions threaten to destabilize the region.
    — semafor.com, semafor.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Another worker was seen preparing food without a proper hair restraint, though this was corrected.
    — Rashad Alexander, Kansas City Star, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of restraint
Noun
  • Among various scientific projects, his NCBRS Worldwide Foundation is partnering with the University of Dusseldorf to map the variance in the severity of symptoms seen across NCBRS patients.
    — Deepa Fernandes, STAT, 8 Oct. 2026
  • However, baseline motor and cognitive measures were similar among participants in the new study, and the associations were still apparent after researchers adjusted for disease severity.
    — Jennifer Fields, Washington Post, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of severity

Browse Nearby Words

austereness
austerity
Australian ballot
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Cite this Entry

“Austerity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/austerity. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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