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Glite Dictionary
stern but fair

stern but fair

1 4.6
Strict and just when dealing with people
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : estricto pero justo
  • My coach is stern but fair, always pushing us to do our best while supporting us equally.

Examples

  • She was a stern but fair teacher.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • He adopted a stern but fair approach when dealing with the misbehaving students.

  • Although she seemed stern but fair, her students knew she cared deeply about their success.

Synonyms

strict but fair
vsstern but fair
3.6

Demanding that people follow rules while treating everyone the same

has identical meaning but uses a different word choice

Antonyms

indulgent
36 6.1

Willing to let someone have what they want, even if it is not good for them

lenient
32 4.4

Not strict about rules and punishment

How Strict

stern but fair
  • Informal
1 4.6
gentle
235 1.0

Surface Forms

stern but fair positive

Morphology

stern + but + fair

The phrase 'stern but fair' is directly compositional: 'stern' (strict) contrasted with 'fair' (impartial) via the conjunction 'but', so the combined meaning 'strict while being just' is immediately derivable from the parts. This construction is common cross-linguistically (many languages use an ADJ + but + ADJ pattern to signal contrast), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily understand it.

Etymology

Stern but fair likely comes from the image of a ship's captain standing at the stern, strict but fair to every sailor. So, the phrase means 'strict but just'.