stern

6 definitions • 7 examples

severe, or showing disapproval:

a stern look/warning/voice

She is her own sternest critic.

Journalists received a stern warning not to go anywhere near the battleship.

If something, such as a job, is stern, it is difficult:

The country's president is facing the sternest test of his authority since he came to power five years ago.

the back part of a ship or boat:

The Red Ensign, the flag of the British Merchant Navy, is rarely seen these days except on the sterns of a few cruise liners and cross-Channel ferries.

a person's bottom (= the part of the body that you sit on)

severe:

Sterner punishment may produce better behavior, but I doubt it.

the back end of a ship:

A rope over the stern towed the little boat.