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 Word Forms

• overstiffness noun
• semistiffness noun
• unstiffness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of stiffness¹

stiff ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )

Example Sentences

In Parkinson's disease, this protein sticks together into toxic clumps that cause nerve cell death and leads to patients suffering from symptoms such as tremors, difficulties moving and muscle stiffness.

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Symptoms can include joint stiffness, muscle aches and pains, fever and headache.

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During this first stage, infected people can experience a fever, headache, extreme tiredness, joint stiffness, muscle aches and pains or swollen lymph nodes.

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Symptoms of Lyme disease can include joint stiffness, muscle aches and pains, fever and headache.

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Its clientele are generally either serious athletes, older adults and desk workers who struggle with stiffness and want to work on their mobility, or those healing injuries and other conditions.

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Related Words

• rigidity www.thesaurus.com