stony
Americanadjective
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full of or abounding in stones or rock.
a stony beach.
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pertaining to or characteristic of stone.
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resembling or suggesting stone, especially in its hardness.
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unfeeling; merciless; obdurate.
a stony heart.
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motionless or rigid; without expression, as the eyes or a look.
a hard, stony stare.
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petrifying; stupefying.
stony fear.
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Slang. stone-broke.
adjective
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of or resembling stone
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abounding in stone or stones
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unfeeling, heartless, or obdurate
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short for stony-broke
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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Much of the action takes place inside Perpetual Fortitude’s stony walls but cleverly, the weather outside shifts along with the mood.
From Los Angeles Times
They control the real-life troops as in a computer game but their faces are stony, their focus total.
From BBC
Entering a local restaurant, he is greeted with stony stares; a white woman points toward the colored entrance.
From Los Angeles Times
Using optical and electron microscopy, Harris and his team determined the rock was a chondrite - the most abundant type of stony meteorite, according to Nasa - which meant that it was approximately 4.56 billion years old.
From BBC
His world is the pastureland, the stony hills of the Jordan Valley, his sheep and cattle, the bed and breakfast he has opened.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
