stiffness

[ stif-nis ]

noun

1. the state or condition of being rigid or firm:

   The bicycle’s frame is well balanced, with excellent stiffness throughout.

   Conventional wisdom has been that longer knife blades need more carbon for stiffness.

2. the state or condition of being unable to move easily:

   Proper stretching will help you avoid joint stiffness and muscle tension after a workout.

3. lack of ease or grace:

   The teacher offers advice on how to get over the stiffness or outright paralysis that can creep in when people make writing into a “big deal.”

4. the state or condition of being rigidly formal:

   There was a stiffness to the encounter, but the ambassador was not unfriendly.

   If representatives meet only under official circumstances, a degree of stiffness is introduced which does not allow people to exchange ideas as freely.

5. the state or condition of being excessive, difficult, or severe:

   The council expressed concern about the stiffness of the fines and sentences for such minor infractions.

6. (of soil) the state or condition of being compact; density:

   A variety of sediment samples are needed in order to recover different types of sediment, mainly based on their stiffness.

Other Words From

• o·ver·stiff·ness noun
• sem·i·stiff·ness noun
• un·stiff·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of stiffness¹

stiff ( def ) + -ness ( def )

Example Sentences

Byrnes and his collaborators have found that the thin patagium is rich in muscles, and some parts are stiffer than others.

From Science News

Maps is another place where Apple’s got some pretty stiff competition from Google.

From TechCrunch

Colman keeps a stiff upper lip, even as the role begins to shift out from under her.

From Washington Post

By this April, SoftBank admitted that it was on track to take stiff losses from its Vision Fund portfolio, which, when combined with other investing losses, pushed the company into a rare loss for the year.

From TechCrunch

There’s an old Polish woman, for instance, whose stiff, territorial energy I can feel whenever I show up to Gaston Park the day after a rain.

From Eater

Early signs are often movement-related, including tremors, stiffness, and problems with walking.

From The Daily Beast

Other auras include neck stiffness, lack of focus, and nausea.

From The Daily Beast

Your miner friends notice the stiffness of your walk and chaff you about it.

From The Daily Beast

Some senior Whitehall sources believed that there was an early “stiffness” between the Queen and Mrs. Thatcher.

From The Daily Beast

But Norris is so inviolably the real thing that even his mind-boggling thespian stiffness works as a badge of pride.

From The Daily Beast

Madame Ratignolle begged Robert to accompany her to the house; she complained of cramp in her limbs and stiffness of the joints.

From Project Gutenberg

Here was none of the old-time stiffness of Capheaton, and there was a conspicuous absence of dead masters and their pupils.

From Project Gutenberg

"He was not in my service," said Nigel, with a sudden, very English stiffness that was almost like haughtiness.

From Project Gutenberg

As Nejdi, too, was showing signs of stiffness, Malcolm mounted one of the spare animals and led the Arab.

From Project Gutenberg

Jim led the horses to a little stream of water as the girls stamped the stiffness out of their cramped legs.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• rigidity