austerity

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The quality of being austere.
• noun Severe and rigid economy.
• noun An austere habit or practice.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Harshness or astringency of taste.
• noun Severity of manner, life, etc.; rigor; strictness; harshness of treatment or demeanor.
• noun Severe or rigorous simplicity; absence of adornment or luxury.
• noun Severe or ascetic practices: chiefly in the plural: as, the austerities of the Flagellants.
• noun Synonyms Self-sacrifice, Asceticism, etc. (see self-denial); sternness, harshness. See comparison under austere.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun obsolete Sourness and harshness to the taste.
• noun Severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline.
• noun Plainness; freedom from adornment; severe simplicity.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline.
• noun Freedom from adornment; plainness; severe simplicity.
• noun economics A policy of deficit-cutting, lower spending, and a reduction in the amount of benefits and public services provided.
• noun obsolete Sourness and harshness to the taste.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the trait of great self-denial (especially refraining from worldly pleasures)