Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (2)
1.
the quality (as of scenery) being grim and gloomy and forbidding;
- Example: "the sternness of his surroundings made him uncomfortable"2.
uncompromising resolution;
[syn: sternness, strictness]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sternness \Stern"ness\, n.
The quality or state of being stern.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
sternness
n 1: the quality (as of scenery) being grim and gloomy and
forbidding; "the sternness of his surroundings made him
uncomfortable"
2: uncompromising resolution [syn: sternness, strictness]