stony

American  

[stoh-nee] / ˈstoʊ ni /

Or stoney

adjective

stonier, stoniest

1. full of or abounding in stones or rock.

   a stony beach.

   Synonyms:

   pebbly, rocky

2. pertaining to or characteristic of stone.

3. resembling or suggesting stone, especially in its hardness.

4. unfeeling; merciless; obdurate.

   a stony heart.

   Synonyms:

   unbending, inflexible, pitiless, flinty, hard, adamant

5. motionless or rigid; without expression, as the eyes or a look.

   a hard, stony stare.

6. petrifying; stupefying.

   stony fear.

7. having a stone or stones, as fruit.

8. Slang. stone-broke.

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stony British  

/ ˈstəʊnɪ /

adjective

1. of or resembling stone

2. abounding in stone or stones

3. unfeeling, heartless, or obdurate

4. short for stony-broke

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Other Word Forms

• stonily
  adverb
• stoniness
  noun
• unstonily
  adverb
• unstoniness
  noun
• unstony
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of stony

before 1000; Middle English; Old English stānig. See stone, -y ¹

Explanation

Someone who's stony shows little emotion or sympathy for other people. As your math teacher hands back last week's geometry quiz, her stony face won't seem like a very good sign. A face with a stony expression is so lacking in feeling that it is "like stone." The other way to use the adjective stony is to mean "with lots of stones," like when you talk about a stony blueberry field in Maine or a stony path leading up to a lush garden. Stony comes from the Old English stanig, with its root of stan, "rock or gem."

Example Sentences

Zhu, the company’s chief executive, studied at China’s elite Tsinghua University and in New York at what is now called Stony Brook University.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 12, 2026

"For Nanotyrannus to be a juvenile T. rex, it would need to defy everything we know about vertebrate growth," explains James Napoli, an anatomist at Stony Brook University and co-author of the research.

From Science Daily • Nov. 2, 2025

But Paul Gootenberg, a professor at Stony Brook University and author of “Andean Cocaine: The Making of a Global Drug,” characterized Trump’s military operation as a “simplistic” approach to complex social problems.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 6, 2025

Once in the studio, it was a case of playing through Stony Gate, with Lee showing the musicians the scene the track was accompanying, in order to whip up the right emotion.

From BBC • Aug. 15, 2025

“But nobody lives up Stony Lonesome Road,” I pointed out.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

Related Words

• expressionless
• frigid