Stern definition

(1) Severe and unremitting in making demands

"An exacting instructor"

"A stern disciplinarian"

"Strict standards"

(2) Of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor; forbidding in aspect

"An austere expression"

"A stern face"

(3) 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"

(4) Severely simple

"A stark interior"

(5) The rear part of a ship

(6) 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?"

(7) United States concert violinist (born in Russia in 1920)