stick-in-the-mud

American  

[stik-in-thuh-muhd] / ˈstɪk ɪn ðəˌmʌd /

noun

1. someone who avoids new activities, ideas, or attitudes; old fogy.

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stick-in-the-mud British  

noun

1. informal a staid or predictably conservative person who lacks initiative or imagination

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Etymology

Origin of stick-in-the-mud

First recorded in 1725–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stick-in-the-mud

His threat of legislation will die, written off by other members of Congress as more grumping from a lifelong stick-in-the-mud.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026

Like the husband is super funny and the wife is a stick-in-the-mud.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2022

She arrives where some of internet’s earliest, stick-in-the-mud critics began, championing the worth of the unbroken story of one unique mind as a treasure the collective stream of consciousness can’t replace.

From Slate ● Feb. 9, 2021

Even Alice, normally a stick-in-the-mud ingénue, is transformed here into something wild by Ms. Byrne, who makes it clear that the wayward Sycamore genes did not skip a generation.

From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2014

I have settled down here and gotten to be such a stick-in-the-mud I don’t even like to go out!

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver