starkly

[ stahrk-lee ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adverb

in a harsh, grim, or desolate way:
Working in the slums confronted us starkly with the sufferings of others.
extremely simply, sparely, or austerely:
Even in wealthier households, bedrooms were starkly furnished, with just a bed and perhaps a chair and a small table.
in a blunt or sternly plain way, without softening:
To put it more starkly, your great-grandmother was a common criminal.
in a way that is highly contrastive; distinctly or sharply:
The case presents two starkly different views of mobile device targeting by advertisers.
completely or utterly; downright:
We both know that it's starkly impossible to hide an operation as big as that from a spy system as good as theirs.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of starkly¹

First recorded before 900; stark ( def ) + -ly ( def )

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Example Sentences

They are starkly different portraits of the brothers compared with how they were portrayed during their trials.

From Los Angeles Times

The party's position on energy and net zero contrasts starkly with that of the Labour government, which wants to remove nearly all fossil fuels from UK electricity production by 2030.

From BBC

A series of cardinals, each representing a starkly different view of the Church, become front-runners — only to have their conflicting and very human failings exposed.

From Los Angeles Times

The temperature problem is most starkly felt in the pyramid of architect Ieoh Ming Pei, which was designed to cope with four million annual visitors but today faces more than double that.

From BBC

In Peacock's "SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night" documentary, the comedian and actor shared that his experience on the sketch variety show was starkly different than he had imagined because of his race.

From Salon

star key stark-naked

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