Synonyms and Antonyms of stern
- the army post's stern commander always had the utmost respect of those who served under him
adamant, adamantine, callous, hardened, hard-hearted, hard-line, immovable, implacable, inflexible, merciless, ossified, pitiless, relentless, rock-ribbed, stiff, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unsparing, unyielding
ascetic (also ascetical), monastic, monkish
determined, firm, resolved, single-minded, steadfast, unflinching
- a stern receptionist took our names without even looking up
bleak, cold, hostile, inhospitable, inimical, unfriendly, unsympathetic
adamant, bound, determined, firm, intent, purposeful, resolute, resolved, steadfast, unflinching
fixed, hard, hardened, hardheaded, immovable, implacable, inflexible, ironhanded, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, rigid, self-willed, set, stiff, stubborn, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unyielding, willful (or wilful)
black, cheerless, dark, gloomy, glum, joyless, melancholic, moody, morose, sulky, sullen, surly
brooding, grave, humorless, melancholy, serious, sober, sobersided, solemn, somber (or sombre), staid, unsmiling, weighty