How to phase the word “stark”?
I think in this sentence you could use for “stark” the word “stare” - this eye stares (if you are looking without feeling).
I don’t know the story, but stark very often means something like “strong” in a poetic sense: stark beauty.
There is also stark meaning “utterly, completely” as in he was stark naked.
In this case, the article is saying that Sandra Bullock’s left eye looks plain or rigid. The sentence says “The left eye looks stark, almost glazed”, suggesting that the left eye has a fixed or lifeless expression, as opposed to the right eye which is supposedly more “open and receptive”.
I think it’s easier to understand the meaning of the word “stark” by understanding the context and the contrast in the sentences. The word “stark” has many meanings and one of them is something like (adj.) “utterly, completely” as SanneT suggested.
But from the context it seems like this is the correct meaning.
In order to make these forums more effective, I suggest that anyone asking about the meaning of a words do the following.
- Provide the context.
- Provide the dictionary definition of the word in question, which is easy enough to do.
When I googled “definition stark”, I got the following, which I think explains that fact that the eye in question was blank and devoid of expression.
blunt: devoid of any qualifications or disguise or adornment; “the blunt truth”; “the crude facts”; “facing the stark reality of the deadline”
austere: severely simple; “a stark interior”
complete or extreme; “stark poverty”; “a stark contrast”
arrant(a): without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers; “an arrant fool”; “a complete coward”; “a consummate fool”; “a double-dyed villain”; “gross negligence”; “a perfect idiot”; “pure folly”; “what a sodding mess”; “stark staring mad”; "a thoroughgoing villain …
bare: providing no shelter or sustenance; “bare rocky hills”; “barren lands”; “the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes”; “the desolate surface of the moon”; “a stark landscape”
Dear All,
Thank you for your input. I got the meaning of “stark” now.
Best Regards
Karen