1. the quality of being complete or utter or extreme - the starkness of his contrast between justice and fairness was open to many objections • Syn: starkness, utterness • Derivationally related forms: stark (for: starkness) • Hypernyms: limit, bound, boundary 2. the quality of being absolute - the absoluteness of the pope's decree could not be challenged • Derivationally related forms: absolute • Hypernyms: changelessness, unchangeability, unchangeableness, unchangingness