Spar·tan

(spär′tn)

adj.

1. Of or relating to Sparta or its people.

2. also spartan

a. Rigorously self-disciplined or self-restrained.

b. Simple, frugal, or austere: a Spartan diet; a spartan lifestyle.

c. Marked by brevity of speech; laconic.

d. Courageous in the face of pain, danger, or adversity.

1. A citizen of Sparta.

2. One of Spartan character.

Spar′tan·ism n.

Spar′tan·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Spartan

(ˈspɑːtən)

adj

1. (Historical Terms) of or relating to Sparta or its citizens

2. (Placename) of or relating to Sparta or its citizens

3. (sometimes not capital) very strict or austere: a Spartan upbringing.

4. (sometimes not capital) possessing courage and resolve

5. (Historical Terms) a citizen of Sparta

6. (Peoples) a citizen of Sparta

7. (sometimes not capital) a disciplined or brave person

8. (Plants) a Canadian variety of eating apple

ˈSpartanˌism n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Spar•tan

(ˈspɑr tn)

adj. Also, Spar•tan′ic (-ˈtæn ɪk)

1. of or pertaining to Sparta or its inhabitants.

2. suggestive of the ancient Spartans; sternly disciplined and rigorously simple, frugal, or austere.

3. brave; undaunted.

4. a native or inhabitant of Sparta.

5. a person of Spartan characteristics.

[1375–1425; < Latin Spartānus=Spart(a) Sparta (< Doric Greek Spártā) + -ānus -an¹]

Spar′tan•ism, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	Spartan - a resident of Sparta Sparta - an ancient Greek city famous for military prowess; the dominant city of the Peloponnesus prior to the 4th century BC Hellene, Greek - a native or inhabitant of Greece
Adj.	1.	Spartan - of or relating to or characteristic of Sparta or its people
	2.	spartan - resolute in the face of pain or danger or adversity; "spartan courage" resolute - firm in purpose or belief; characterized by firmness and determination; "stood resolute against the enemy"; "faced with a resolute opposition"; "a resolute and unshakeable faith"
	3.	spartan - unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or judgment; "a parent severe to the pitch of hostility"- H.G.Wells; "a hefty six-footer with a rather severe mien"; "a strict disciplinarian"; "a Spartan upbringing" severe nonindulgent, strict - characterized by strictness, severity, or restraint
	4.	spartan - practicing great self-denial; "Be systematically ascetic...do...something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it"- William James; "a desert nomad's austere life"; "a spartan diet"; "a spartan existence" ascetic, ascetical, austere abstemious - sparing in consumption of especially food and drink; "the pleasures of the table, never of much consequence to one naturally abstemious"- John Galsworthy

spartan

adjective austere, severe, frugal, ascetic, plain, disciplined, extreme, strict, stern, bleak, rigorous, stringent, abstemious, self-denying Their spartan lifestyle prohibits a fridge or a phone.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

Spartan

[ˈspɑːtən]

A. ADJ → espartano

B. N → espartano/a m/f

spartan

[ˈspɑːtən] ADJ (fig) → espartano

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

spartan

[ˈspɑː^rt^ən] adj (= austere) [lifestyle, room] → spartiate

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Spartan

adj (fig: also spartan) → spartanisch

n → Spartaner(in) m(f)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Spartan

spartan [ˈspɑːt/ən] adj & n (also) (fig) → spartano/a

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

A helot of Agesilaus made us a dish of Spartan broth, but I was not able to get down a second spoonful.

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Having dispatched this Spartan composition by the post, Geoffrey lit his pipe, and waited the event of the interview between Lord Holchester and his eldest son.

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So, with Spartan firmness, the young authoress laid her first-born on her table, and chopped it up as ruthlessly as any ogre.

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During the reading of this, which was long, the public attention was continually drawn towards Andrea, who bore the inspection with Spartan unconcern.

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It's always better to make such a change before it's absolutely necessary." And having arrived at this Spartan decision Mr.

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"I don't know if it is true that he is engaged to Miss Stuart," replied Anne, with Spartan composure, "but it is certainly true that she is very lovely."

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In the meantime he worked, taking no recreation except when he went to see Ruth, and living like a Spartan. He paid two dollars and a half a month rent for the small room he got from his Portuguese landlady, Maria Silva, a virago and a widow, hard working and harsher tempered, rearing her large brood of children somehow, and drowning her sorrow and fatigue at irregular intervals in a gallon of the thin, sour wine that she bought from the corner grocery and saloon for fifteen cents.

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Then let us now proceed to describe the inferior sort of natures, being the contentious and ambitious, who answer to the Spartan polity; also the oligarchical, democratical, and tyrannical.

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This highly endeared him to her, and raised in her mind two of the best affections which any lover can wish to raise in a mistress--these were, esteem and pity--for sure the most outrageously rigid among her sex will excuse her pitying a man whom she saw miserable on her own account; nor can they blame her for esteeming one who visibly, from the most honourable motives, endeavoured to smother a flame in his own bosom, which, like the famous Spartan theft, was preying upon and consuming his very vitals.

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We have made our calculations with Spartan economy, and we each require fifteen hundred livres."

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The nation itself, with all its so-called internal improvements, which, by the way are all external and superficial, is just such an unwieldy and overgrown establishment, cluttered with furniture and tripped up by its own traps, ruined by luxury and heedless expense, by want of calculation and a worthy aim, as the million households in the land; and the only cure for it, as for them, is in a rigid economy, a stern and more than Spartan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.

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It was about this time that Rebecca, who had been reading about the Spartan boy, conceived the idea of some mild form of self-punishment to be applied on occasions when she was fully convinced in her own mind that it would be salutary.

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