Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In a stern manner; with severity, harshness, austerity, or rigor.

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

  • adverb In a stern manner.

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

  • adverb In a stern manner.

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

  • adverb with sternness; in a severe manner

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

stern +‎ -ly

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Examples

  • Glancing at Juan, she saw the troubled darkness of his eyes as he gazed at the hollow, his expression sternly sober.

    Touch the Wind

  • Glancing at Juan, she saw the troubled darkness of his eyes as he gazed at the hollow, his expression sternly sober.

    Touch the Wind

  • "Also," said Tish, cutting in sternly, "you took away my revolver, and left us helpless last night, and in peril of wild beasts."

    Tish

  • He did not appear to fairly understand it until he was shown the chest with the ventilated lid; then his countenance cleared, and, taking the unhappy Billy by the collar, he called sternly for a piece of rope.

    Many Cargoes

  • Then she called sternly to her straying imagination.

    Life at High Tide

  • I made a quick comment of reprimand (merely saying his name sternly), and his instant, reflexive reaction was to say

    Rate Your Students

  • Then the messenger of the Vikings stood on the bank, he called sternly, uttered words, boastfully speaking the seafarers’ message to the earl, as he stood on the shore.

    The Early Middle Ages 500-1000

  • Face it, she told herself sternly, that is a closed chapter.

    A Different Light

  • Orchard Street and nothing more, he reminded himself sternly, that is not so very bad.

    The Blackstone Key

  • Orchard Street and nothing more, he reminded himself sternly, that is not so very bad.

    The Blackstone Key

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