The force will face a stern test upon arrival.

We drove on and saw from afar the short 11th hole, a stern test with the wind coming up.

Those are staples in football that have stood the sternest test.

Up where the snowmobiles couldn't go, we would face a sterner test.

Today was a sterner test than I wished to set him.

But one of his sternest tests - and the most important - will come Sunday.

Therefore, this is also a stern test for the European Union itself.

This is a stern test for Europe, one that we cannot afford to fail.

What she had in mind was a stern test.

He will get a stern test to start with.