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1. Of a stern or strict bearing or demeanour; forbidding in aspect
   "a stern face";
   - austere
    
2. Not to be placated, appeased or moved by entreaty
   "the stern demands of parenthood";
   - grim, inexorable, relentless, unappeasable, unforgiving, unrelenting
    
3. Severe and unremitting in making demands
   "a stern disciplinarian";
   - strict, exacting
    
4. Very plain, appearing grim and minimally functional
   "a stern interior";
   - austere, severe, stark

1. The rear part of a ship
   - after part, quarter, poop, tail
    
2. The fleshy part of the human body that you sit on
   "he deserves a good kick in the stern";
   - buttocks, nates, butt, backside, bum, buns [N. Amer], can [N. Amer, informal], fundament, hindquarters, hind end, posterior, rear, rear end, rump, seat, tail, tail end, tooshie, tush [N. Amer], bottom, behind, derriere, heinie [US], derrière

1. United States concert violinist (born in Russia in 1920)
   - Isaac Stern

Derived forms: sterns, sternest, sterner

See also: demanding, exacting, implacable, nonindulgent, plain, strict

Type of: back, body part, fiddler, rear, violinist

Part of: body, ship, torso, trunk

Encyclopedia: Stern Stern, Julius