From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
stern
adj 1: of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor; forbidding in
aspect; "an austere expression"; "a stern face" [syn:
austere, stern]
2: not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty; "grim
determination"; "grim necessity"; "Russia's final hour, it
seemed, approached with inexorable certainty"; "relentless
persecution"; "the stern demands of parenthood" [syn: grim,
inexorable, relentless, stern, unappeasable,
unforgiving, unrelenting]
3: severe and unremitting in making demands; "an exacting
instructor"; "a stern disciplinarian"; "strict standards"
[syn: stern, strict, exacting]
4: severely simple; "a stark interior" [syn: austere,
severe, stark, stern]
n 1: the rear part of a ship [syn: stern, after part,
quarter, poop, tail]
2: United States concert violinist (born in Russia in 1920)
[syn: Stern, Isaac Stern]
3: the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on; "he
deserves a good kick in the butt"; "are you going to sit on
your fanny and do nothing?" [syn: buttocks, nates,
arse, butt, backside, bum, buns, can,
fundament, hindquarters, hind end, keister,
posterior, prat, rear, rear end, rump, stern,
seat, tail, tail end, tooshie, tush, bottom,
behind, derriere, fanny, ass]