Word Study
spartan
CIDE DICTIONARY
spartan, a. [L. Spartanus.].
Of or pertaining to Sparta, especially to ancient Sparta; hence, hardy; undaunted; as, Spartan souls; Spartan bravey. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
spartan, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 of or relating to Sparta in ancient Greece.
2 a possessing the qualities of courage, endurance, stern frugality, etc., associated with Sparta. b (of a regime, conditions, etc.) lacking comfort; austere.
--n. a citizen of Sparta.
--adj.
1 of or relating to Sparta in ancient Greece.
2 a possessing the qualities of courage, endurance, stern frugality, etc., associated with Sparta. b (of a regime, conditions, etc.) lacking comfort; austere.
--n. a citizen of Sparta.
Etymology
ME f. L Spartanus f. Sparta f. Gk Sparta, -te
THESAURUS
spartan
Apostolic, Encratic, Laconian, Lenten, Pythagorean, Rechabite, Shaker, Spartanic, Stoic, abbreviated, abridged, abstemious, abstinent, accepting, aposiopestic, armed with patience, ascetic, astringent, austere, authoritarian, bald, bare, brief, brusque, candid, celibate, chaste, clam, clipped, close, common, commonplace, compact, compendious, compressed, concise, condensed, continent, contracted, controlled, crisp, curt, cut, demanding, direct, disciplined, docked, dour, dry, dull, dwarfed, dwarfish, elliptic, endurant, enduring, epigrammatic, exacting, exigent, exiguous, forbearing, frank, frugal, fruitarian, gnomic, grim, hard, harsh, homely, homespun, impoverished, indulgent, inornate, jejune, laconic, lean, lenient, limited, long-suffering, longanimous, man of iron, matter-of-fact, meager, mean, meticulous, miserly, narrow, natural, neat, nephalistic, niggardly, on the wagon, open, paltry, parsimonious, patient, patient as Job, persevering, philosophical, pithy, plain, plain-speaking, plain-spoken, pointed, poor, prosaic, prosing, prosy, pruned, puny, pure, reserved, rigid, rigorous, rugged, rustic, scant, scanty, scrawny, scrimp, scrimpy, self-controlled, self-denying, sententious, severe, sexually abstinent, short, short and sweet, shortened, simple, simple-speaking, skimp, skimpy, slender, slight, slim, small, sober, spare, sparing, stark, starvation, stern, stingy, stinted, stoic, straightforward, straitened, strict, stringent, stunted, subsistence, succinct, summary, sworn off, synopsized, taciturn, teetotal, terse, thin, tight, to the point, tolerant, tolerating, tolerative, tough, truncated, unadorned, unaffected, understanding, unelaborate, unfancy, unfussy, unimaginative, unnourishing, unnutritious, unornate, unpoetical, unsparing, unvarnished, vegetarian, watered, wateryROGET THESAURUS
spartan
Severity
N severity, strictness, harshness, rigor, stringency, austerity, inclemency, arrogance, precisianism, arbitrary power, absolutism, despotism, dictatorship, autocracy, tyranny, domineering, oppression, assumption, usurpation, inquisition, reign of terror, martial law, iron heel, iron rule, iron hand, iron sway, tight grasp, brute force, brute strength, coercion, strong hand, tight hand, hard lines, hard measure, tender mercies, sharp practice, pipe-clay, officialism, tyrant, disciplinarian, precisian, martinet, stickler, bashaw, despot, hard master, Draco, oppressor, inquisitor, extortioner, harpy, vulture, accipitres, birds of prey, raptorials, raptors, severe, strict, hard, harsh, dour, rigid, stiff, stern, rigorous, uncompromising, exacting, exigent, exigeant, inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, austere, hard-headed, hard-nosed, hard-shell, relentless, Spartan, Draconian, stringent, strait-laced, searching, unsparing, iron-handed, peremptory, absolute, positive, arbitrary, imperative, coercive, tyrannical, extortionate, grinding, withering, oppressive, inquisitorial, inclement, cruel, haughty, arrogant, precisian, severely, with a high hand, with a strong hand, with a tight hand, with a heavy hand, at the point of the sword, at the point of the bayonet, Delirant reges plectuntur Achivi, manu forti, ogni debole ha sempre il suo tiranno.For further exploring for "spartan" in Webster Dictionary Online