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Adjective: stern (sterner,sternest)  sturn
  1. Severe and unremitting in making demands
    "a stern disciplinarian";
    - strict, exacting
     
  2. Not to be placated, appeased or moved by entreaty
    "the stern demands of parenthood";
    - grim, inexorable, relentless, unappeasable, unforgiving, unrelenting
     
  3. Of a stern or strict bearing or demeanour; forbidding in aspect
    "a stern face";
    - austere
     
  4. Very plain, appearing grim and minimally functional
    "a stern interior";
    - austere, severe, stark
Noun: stern  sturn
  1. The rear part of a ship
    - after part, quarter, poop, tail
     
  2. [informal] The fleshy part of the human body that you sit on
    "he deserves a good kick in the stern";
    - buttocks, nates [technical], butt [N. Amer, informal], backside, bum [Brit, informal], buns [N. Amer, informal], can [N. Amer, informal], fundament, hindquarters, hind end, posterior, rear [informal], rear end [informal], rump, seat, tail [N. Amer, informal], tail end, tooshie [informal], tush [N. Amer, informal], bottom, behind, derriere, bahookie [UK, dialect, informal], botty [informal], heinie [US, informal], duff [N. Amer, informal], booty [N. Amer, informal], patootie [US, informal], tushy [N. Amer, informal], derrière
Noun: Stern  sturn
  1. United States concert violinist (born in Russia in 1920, died in New York City 2001)
    - Isaac Stern

Derived forms: sterner, sternest, sterns

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

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

Part of: body, ship, torso, trunk

Encyclopedia: Stern, Maria