What's the difference between fierce and stark?

Fierce


Definition:

  • (superl.) Furious; violent; unrestrained; impetuous; as, a fierce wind.
  • (superl.) Vehement in anger or cruelty; ready or eager to kill or injure; of a nature to inspire terror; ferocious.
  • (superl.) Excessively earnest, eager, or ardent.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Migrant voters are almost as numerous as current Ukip supporters but they are widely overlooked and risk being increasingly disaffected by mainstream politics and the fierce rhetoric around immigration caused partly by the rise of Ukip,” said Robert Ford from Manchester University, the report’s co-author.
  • (2) Yves was the vulnerable, suffering artist and Pierre the fiercely controlling protector: a man who, in Lespert's film, is painfully aware of his public image – "the pimp who's found his all-star hooker".
  • (3) Some business groups have been lobbying fiercely against the reform, though others support it.
  • (4) As Greece pleads with its eurozone creditors for more time in meeting its fiscal adjustment targets, Dombrovskis is a fierce champion of surgical austerity applied quickly and ruthlessly.
  • (5) Despite its dominance, the PAP continues to fiercely restrict freedom of assembly and speech.
  • (6) Recruitment has not returned to pre-credit crunch levels, and there is fierce competition for new jobs.
  • (7) And in Colorado the fiercely anti-immigration conservative and former presidential candidate Ted Tancredo was comfortably overcome by a more moderate former congressman, Bob Beauprez, in the primary to choose the Republican candidate for the state's governor.
  • (8) Andrea Dworkin, who has died aged 58, was a feminist who came to represent the fierce debate on pornography and sexual violence.
  • (9) In the past fortnight protesters have found themselves caught in the middle of fierce gun battles between regime forces and defected soldiers who have been guarding the main protest camp since March.
  • (10) The last of these come into force in 2014, and after fierce resistance from the larger operators, Kroes is not proposing any more price reductions.
  • (11) Thus in your own words you have said why it was utterly inappropriate for you to use the platform of a Pac hearing in this way.” He suggested that many professionals were “in despair at the lack of understanding and cheap haranguing which characterise your manner” after a series of hearings at which Hodge has led fierce interrogations of senior business figures and others.
  • (12) Allegations that British soldiers murdered insurgents and mutilated their bodies after a fierce firefight in Iraq were roundly rejected by an official inquiry, which also found that a number of prisoners were abused and that troops breached the Geneva convention.
  • (13) So there will no doubt be another fierce battle next year over this issue.
  • (14) There's something very earnest about the build up to this MLS Cup final, as if the battle on the field between Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake starts with a competition to see which team can "respect" the other one more fiercely.
  • (15) Cameron is caught between fierce opposition to reform on his own benches, Labour criticism of the bill, and the determination of his deputy Nick Clegg to press ahead with a reform that has been delayed for 100 years.
  • (16) Liverpool were restricted to shots from the edge of the area throughout the opening half, mainly from Alberto who went close with one curling effort and had fierce drive parried by the goalkeeper Mark Oxley.
  • (17) However, City sources said that SABMiller is likely to launch a fierce defence against a deal and could instead look to combine with Diageo , the British owner of Guinness and Johnnie Walker whisky.
  • (18) Tesco’s accounting scandal has led to concerns about the way the sector handles payments from suppliers for promoting products or hitting sales targets, and UK grocers are operating under fierce competition from discounters such as the German company Aldi which has reported a 65% rise in profits in the UK.
  • (19) Liverpool did not begin like a side who believed a top-four finish was beyond them and continued to apply fierce pressure.
  • (20) Sitting in the Khartoum restaurant as the fierce late-afternoon sun intrudes through the windows, Lubna dismisses the notion that western praise might be a drawback in a country like Sudan.

Stark


Definition:

  • (n.) Stiff; rigid.
  • (n.) Complete; absolute; full; perfect; entire.
  • (n.) Strong; vigorous; powerful.
  • (n.) Severe; violent; fierce.
  • (n.) Mere; sheer; gross; entire; downright.
  • (adv.) Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
  • (v. t.) To stiffen.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) World leaders must reach a historic agreement to fight climate change and poverty at coming talks in Paris, facing the stark choice to either “improve or destroy the environment”, Pope Francis said in Africa on Thursday.
  • (2) Facebook Twitter Pinterest No shake: Donald Trump snubs Angela Merkel during photo op The piece of pantomime was in stark contrast to the visit of Theresa May in January.
  • (3) But as a former Eurocrat, he is well-versed in the weaknesses and believes it is right to highlight them in stark language.
  • (4) These achievements, and faults, will find stark contrast with Trump’s administration; certainly Trump’s nominations for key positions in his cabinet that relate to climate change have prompted alarm by experts and campaigners.
  • (5) An ethnic breakdown of other opinion-formers, from book reviewers to theatre critics, would be just as stark.
  • (6) Paul*, from Essex, a father of two daughters, has experienced those starkly differing standards.
  • (7) Friends of the Earth's executive director, Andy Atkins, said: "We can't continue to ignore the stark warnings of the catastrophic consequences of climate change on the lives and livelihoods of people across the planet.
  • (8) She went on to deliver a stark warning that leaving the single market would deter international investors from Britain and lead major companies to question whether they should relocate to mainland Europe.
  • (9) This was in stark contrast to my comprehensive school.
  • (10) Their differences highlight Northern Ireland’s often stark dichotomy between religious-based social conservatism and secular progressive liberalism.
  • (11) By global city standards even those are quite clean and orderly, but compared with the rest of the city they offer a stark contrast.
  • (12) Dig deeper into the funding numbers – the real story of national politics in the post Citizens United age – and the Tea Party realignment of the GOP stands out yet more starkly.
  • (13) The inequalities that have been allowed to emerge in this one street are so stark they recall an era as long past as the period of its houses.
  • (14) A glance at today's Sun provides a stark reminder that constitutional reform is no way to win easy plaudits from the papers that most voters read.
  • (15) Although the Kyoto agreement only measures production, the stark difference in the figures highlights a key controversy in negotiations about a new treaty – which will continue at a big UN meeting in Cancún, Mexico, in December : some developing countries, such as China, argue they should not be held responsible for emissions generated by consumption in rich nations.
  • (16) It is a stark contrast to expectations before the vote to leave the EU, when the next move in interest rates was seen as likely to be upwards.
  • (17) The next few days may well determine whether, this time, such loyalty will be in vain; but, while yearning for a clarion call and what was described as "vision" in this paper's leading article yesterday, I need to pose some pretty stark questions to Guardian readers.
  • (18) They included Lena Heady (Queen Cersei Lannister), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Conleth Hill (Lord Varys), Rose Leslie (Ygritte), 17-year-old Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and 18-year-old Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark).
  • (19) The orderly village of Agulodiek in Ethiopia's western Gambella region stands in stark contrast to Elay, a settlement 5km west of Gambella town, where collapsed straw huts strewn with cracked clay pots lie among a tangle of bushes.
  • (20) The next three years of negotiations on the treaty will be the hardest in the 20-year history of climate change talks because the world has changed enormously since 1992, when the UN convention on climate change was signed, and 1997, when the Kyoto protocol enshrined a stark division between developed countries – which were required to cut emissions – and developing countries, which were not.