Why this word is great
STARKNESS — [Noun] The quality or state of being completely bare, plain, or harshly evident. From Middle English starknes, starkenes, starkenesse, equivalent to stark (from Old English stearc, meaning "stiff, firm, severe") + -ness (a suffix forming nouns denoting a state or quality). Unlike austerity, which implies a deliberate, ascetic choice, or barrenness, which denotes a lifeless infertility, starkness is an imposed, inherent condition of exposure. It is the black branch against a winter sky, the scent of cold plaster in an empty room, the uninflected statement of a terminal diagnosis—a reality from which all comfort has been abstracted, leaving the beautiful, terrible relief of a final, indisputable fact.