rock-ribbed

Or rock-rib

[rok-ribd]

adjective

1. having ribs or ridges of rock.

   the rock-ribbed coast of Maine.

2. unyielding; confirmed and uncompromising.

   a rock-ribbed conservative.

Word History and Origins

Origin of rock-ribbed¹

First recorded in 1770–80

Example Sentences

In 1997, the comedy “In & Out” did its shiny, star-studded best to mainstream the story of a closeted gay man in a rock-ribbed American community embracing his truth.

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The daily newspapers, including the rock-ribbed conservative Los Angeles Times, lampooned Sinclair mercilessly.

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I grew up in Lake View, New York, a rock-ribbed Republican suburb of Buffalo.

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Of course, with the rock-ribbed conservatives to the chief justice’s right, there may be scant prospect of similar goodwill.

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One question Heller plays with throughout the book is whether all this rock-ribbed, superior-feeling sense of the world is covering up for something — and whether we’re missing something important when we long to be saviors.

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Related Words

• craggy 
• jagged 
• rough