Synonyms of austerity

austerity

noun

1

as in sacrifice

voluntary restraint in the satisfaction of one's appetites

They moved off the grid to live a life of austerity.

Related Words

• sacrifice
• discipline
• restraint
• frugality
• asceticism
• self-denial
• mortification
• avoidance
• temperance
• self-mastery
• reasonableness
• control
• constraint
• reasonability
• self-discipline
• self-command
• temperateness
• self-containment
• self-control
• abnegation
• abstention
• rationality
• sensibleness
• eschewal
• forbearance
• sensibility
• soberness
• abstinence
• sobriety
• teetotalism
• moderation
• middle-of-the-roadism
• rationalness
• moderateness

Dissimilar Words

• excess
• extremity
• superfluity
• extremeness
• extremism
• unrestraint
• irrationality
• unreasonableness
• radicalness
• unconstraint
• excessiveness
• intemperance
• immoderation
• insobriety
• immoderateness
• immoderacy
• intemperateness

2

as in gruffness

the quality or state of being stern and serious in manner or appearance

His air of austerity tends to put others off.

Related Words

• gruffness
• asceticism
• severity
• monasticism
• determination
• obduracy
• dourness
• steadfastness
• austereness
• implacability
• callousness
• resolve
• pitilessness
• rigidity
• obstinacy
• stubbornness
• sternness
• firmness
• hard-heartedness
• strictness
• inflexibility
• obdurateness
• stringency
• harshness
• rigidness
• hardness
• rigor
• rigorousness
• exactingness

Dissimilar Words

• tolerance
• patience
• indulgence
• tenderness
• softness
• forbearance
• kindness
• flexibility
• gentleness
• lenience
• laxness
• mildness

3

as in deprivation

the state of lacking sufficient money or material possessions

His family spent years living in austerity during the recession.

Related Words

• deprivation
• misery
• bankruptcy
• poverty
• privation
• belt-tightening
• emergency
• pinching
• wretchedness
• woe
• exigency
• straitening
• insolvency
• gutter
• impoverishment
• rainy day
• destitution
• penury
• necessity
• pauperism
• beggary
• indigence
• neediness
• impecuniosity
• poorness
• need
• impecuniousness
• penuriousness
• destituteness
• want

Dissimilar Words

• prosperity
• luxury
• wealth
• opulence
• affluence
• richness
• wealthiness

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of austerity

In two months, the yield on its 10-year government bond has jumped a full percentage point as successive governments have failed to push through austerity measures. — Laurent Belsie, Christian Science Monitor, 13 Oct. 2026

Now, his son is promising cuts to social security spending modeled on the austerity policies of Javier Milei’s government in Argentina. — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026

Tens of thousands marched peacefully through Brussels against rising living costs and government austerity measures, as Belgium struggles to finalize next year’s budget amid mounting public debt. — Mark Carlson, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026

Just north of Manchester, the former mill town of Bury was hit hard by deindustrialization, then faced additional struggles under the austerity movement of the twenty-tens. — Vanda Mayer, New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2026