austerity

noun4

1. •
   Severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline.
2. •
   A policy of deficit-cutting, which by definition requires lower spending, higher taxes, or both.
3. •
   Freedom from adornment; plainness; severe simplicity.

   • One critic [Madeleine Schwartz] recently noted that the politics of Rooney’s novels were largely “gestural,” with airy mentions of Gaza or austerity protests but not much radical substance. — 2019
4. •
   (no longer used) Sourness and harshness to the taste.