Bare, plain, and with no comfort at all — but chosen or accepted, not just poor. A spartan room has a bed, a chair, and nothing else: no cushions, no pictures, no heating. Spartan conditions on a trip means you slept on the floor and washed in cold water. A spartan diet means plain food and not much of it. The key feeling is that the bareness is on purpose, or at least borne without complaint, often for training, discipline, or saving money. That is why it can sound almost like praise. Calling someone's life spartan often carries respect — they live simply and can take hardship. Calling a hotel room spartan, though, is a polite complaint. The word usually sits in front of a noun: spartan conditions, a spartan room, spartan accommodation, a spartan existence. It is a written and slightly formal word; in speech people say 'really basic' or 'there was nothing in it'. Note that English also has 'Spartan' with a capital letter, meaning a person from ancient Sparta — same word, different job.