☼ Concept Map

''spartan'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

↩ 🔳 🔳 🔳

Primary

⁀➴

''spartan'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260605232103-00-⌔

spartan - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

spartan (comparative more spartan, superlative most spartan)

  • Austere, frugal, characterized by self-denial.
    • ✤ I went on the retreat to the monastery, thinking I would be sleeping in a spartan cell, only to discover a simple but comfortable bedroom.
    • ✤ The engine was Class “3” 2-6-2 tank No. 82013, with Driver Sampson (Exmouth), and its roomy draught-free cab was a striking contrast to the spartan comfort offered on the Drummond tank.1
    • ✤ Among its findings, the report says: “In recent years we have seen more stations transformed from run-down Victorian hulks, or spartan bus-sheltered platforms, into places that people can take pride in, feel comfortable in using, and which are fulfilling more of their wider potential.2
  • Resolute in the face of danger or adversity.
    • ✤ The spartan legionaries vowed to fight to the death.
  • Lacking in decoration and luxury.
    • ✤ Synonyms: plain, simple; see also Thesaurus: unadorned
    • ✤ After ten years as a fashion designer in the rough-and-tumble Garment District, Eloise left New York for the spartan but serene life of a farmer’s wife.
    • ✤ [I]t was furnished with the spartan simplicity which characterizes womanless quarters.3

Etymology

By analogy with the ancient Spartans, who famously possessed these qualities.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈspɑː(ɹ)tən/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1960 June, R. C. Riley, “The coastal branches of South-East Devon: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 337: ↩

  2. 2020 August 26, “Network News: Stations investment boosts regeneration, says report”, in Rail, page 17: ↩

  3. 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 4: ↩

Link to original

Secondary

• • •