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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
austerity
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
economic
▪ The Solidarity trade union staged a nationwide day of protests against government economic austerity policies on May 22.
▪ Then, on top of the craziness and alleged corruption, populist Bucaram last month announced an economic austerity program.
▪ With important municipal elections due in October, they were unwilling to be associated with his highly unpopular economic austerity policies.
▪ A programme of strict economic austerity agreed with the International Monetary Fund is dead.
▪ The scandal fuelled popular resentment at time of high unemployment and economic austerity.
■ NOUN
measure
▪ The austerity measures affected primarily spending on health, social welfare, defence and overseas development assistance.
▪ Once she took office Ellie instituted stringent austerity measures.
▪ But it remained to be seen whether the ambitious plan would withstand the impact of possible future austerity measures.
▪ Various international bodies warned of the need to impose radical austerity measures without delay if adverse trends were to be reversed.
▪ The report demonstrated that the 1980s austerity measures had disproportionately affected blue collar workers in comparison with white collar workers.
▪ The austerity measures included a freeze on civil service appointments, pay and promotions.
▪ A new economic commission was set up to monitor the success of the austerity measures.
▪ Industrial action On June 6, 1990, there was a 24-hour nationwide strike to protest against the latest austerity measures.
package
▪ Then, a successful austerity package was introduced.
plan
▪ The austerity plan was likely to involve the dismissal of thousands of government employees.
policy
▪ The Solidarity trade union staged a nationwide day of protests against government economic austerity policies on May 22.
▪ But a spiraling deficit and weakened franc forced him to adopt austerity policies in 1983.
▪ It has also resorted to austerity policies which have affected prices, employment and real wages.
▪ With important municipal elections due in October, they were unwilling to be associated with his highly unpopular economic austerity policies.
program
▪ In 1991 Soglo instituted an austerity program and privatized many state enterprises, a trend continued by Kerekou.
▪ Then, on top of the craziness and alleged corruption, populist Bucaram last month announced an economic austerity program.
▪ Apple Computer Inc. kicked off its austerity program yesterday.
programme
▪ Falls in the price of oil had provoked the government four years previously to impose an austerity programme.
▪ Ever since September 1988, Mr Li's government has been pressing an austerity programme to cool the economy.
▪ The decision was reportedly taken in response to the government's current austerity programme.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Russians have faced years of austerity after communism's fall.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Although the Benedictine rule imposed specific obligations upon each individual, it was rarely severe to the point of austerity.
▪ I at once sensed the physical austerity and the quality of social and intellectual superiority characteristic of the best public schools.
▪ Low inflation, competitive pressure and a continued focus on fiscal austerity depress projected raises, Hewitt says.
▪ She renounced the role of tragic widow with an austerity that irritated her would-be saviours.
▪ The fifth plenum announced austerity measures to tackle the worsening economic situation and called for stronger party leadership and unity.
▪ The government could afford a slight relaxation of its austerity.
▪ Then, on top of the craziness and alleged corruption, populist Bucaram last month announced an economic austerity program.
▪ This has the effect of rounding the contours and losing some of the austerity of the unadorned triads.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Austerity

Austerity \Aus*ter"i*ty\, n.; pl. Austerities. [F. aust['e]rit['e], L. austerias, fr. austerus. See Austere.]

  1. Sourness and harshness to the taste. [Obs.]
    --Horsley.

  2. Severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline.

    The austerity of John the Baptist.
    --Milton.

  3. Plainness; freedom from adornment; severe simplicity.

    Partly owing to the studied austerity of her dress, and partly to the lack of demonstration in her manners.
    --Hawthorne.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
austerity

mid-14c., "sternness, harshness," from Old French austerite "harshness, cruelty" (14c.) and directly from Late Latin austeritatem (nominative austeritas), from austerus (see austere). Of severe self-discipline, from 1580s; hence "severe simplicity" (1875); applied during World War II to national policies limiting non-essentials as a wartime economy.

Wiktionary
austerity

n. 1 severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline. 2 Freedom from adornment; plainness; severe simplicity. 3 (context economics English) A policy of deficit-cutting, which by definition requires lower spending, higher taxes, or both.

WordNet
austerity

n. the trait of great self-denial (especially refraining from worldly pleasures) [syn: asceticism, nonindulgence]

Wikipedia
Austerity (disambiguation)

Austerity is a policy of deficit-cutting, which by definition requires lower spending, higher taxes, or both.

Austerity or Austere may also refer to:

Austerity

Austerity is a set of economic policies implemented with the aim of reducing government budget deficits. Policies grouped under the term 'austerity measures' may include spending cuts, tax increases, or a mixture of both, and may be undertaken to demonstrate the government's fiscal discipline to creditors and credit rating agencies by bringing revenues closer to expenditures.

In most macroeconomic models austerity measures generally increase unemployment as government spending falls, reducing jobs in the public and/or private sector. Meanwhile, tax increases reduce household disposable income, thus reducing spending and consumption.

Since government spending contributes to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), reducing the spending may result in a higher debt-to-GDP ratio, a key measure of a country's debt burden.

When an economy is operating at near capacity, higher short-term deficit spending (stimulus) can cause interest rates to rise, resulting in a reduction in private investments, which in turn reduces economic growth. In the case of excess capacity, however, the stimulus may result in an increase in employment and output.

A historical example in which austerity measures failed was in the aftermath of the Great Recession, where many European countries implemented such policies: unemployment rose to higher levels and debt-to-GDP ratios increased, despite reductions in budget deficits (relative to GDP).

Usage examples of "austerity".

The decor was stylish to a point where it transcended style and entered the realms of perspicuous harmony, shunning grandiloquent ornamentation in favour of a visual concinnity, garnered from aesthetic principles, which combined the austerity of Bauhaus and ebullience of Burges14 into an eclectic mix before stripping them down to their fundamental essentials, to create an effect which was almost aphoristic, in that it could be experienced but never completely expressed.

The thorough-paced Puritans were distinguishable by the sourness and austerity of their manners, and by their aversion to all pleasure and society.

But an accurate, or rather a candid, inquiry will discover, that if the Priscillianists violated the laws of nature, it was not by the licentiousness, but by the austerity, of their lives.

Joscelin wore black, reminding me with a pang of Delaunay in his austerity, a chain of square-linked silver glittering on the placket of his doublet, his fair braid like a marque down the center of his back.

It was an odd-looking match, David de Rocaille the model of austerity and competence in his grey Cassiline garb and Joscelin in rough-spun attire, his tangled locks still streaked with walnut dye.

He was a man of austere virtue, but he took care to hide the austerity under a veil of a real and universal kindness.

The latter, enormous work was still a drawing, but the austerity of the bistre monochrome seemed fitting for the devotional austerity of the mood and somehow reinforced the enormous compositional pull of the work towards its patriotic center, where light played on the head of Sylvain Bailly commanding the oath.

Nor did you read about Carlos Santilldn, 27, or Oscar Barrios, 17, gunned down in a church courtyard in Salta Province when the police fired on a protest against the IMF austerity plan.

Oscar Barrios, 17, gunned down in a church courtyard in Salta Province when the police fired on a protest against the IMF austerity plan.

Indeed, it would have been at variance with his nature to take her in any other way, for though his vocation was that of an artist, and although he loved his vocation, his actual bias was towards the austerity and self--renunciation of a therapeutist, in the religious application of the term.

To such an extent did the priests of the Algonkin tribes who lived near Manhattan Island carry their austerity, such uncompromising celibates were they, that it is said on authority as old as 1624, that they never so much as partook of food prepared by a married woman.

Of the long nights of vigil on the floor of the oratory and of many other austerities which had filled those last sad days since the quarrel with Rome had begun, the Lady Beata was forced to give faithful account to the physicians who were summoned in immediate consultation to the bedchamber of the Lady Marina.

The Celi Dei, or Culdees as they were commonly called, lived a life of austerity, disciplining their bodies to increase the glory of the soul.

Many believe the Fravashi should live in the same austerity they demand of their students, but in fact, they do not.

The noble elfs party dress contrasted sharply with the austerity of the furnishings and the martial trappings that adorned the walls, but Parseval seemed unaware of the incongruity of his appearance in these surroundings.