stiff

American  

[stif] / stɪf /

adjective

• stiffer,
  comparative
• stiffest
  superlative

1. rigid or firm; difficult or impossible to bend or flex.

   a stiff collar.

   Synonyms:

   unyielding, unbending

2. not moving or working easily.

   The motor was a little stiff from the cold weather.

3. (of a person or animal) not supple; moving with difficulty, as from cold, age, exhaustion, or injury.

4. strong; forceful; powerful: The fighter threw a stiff right to his opponent's jaw.

   stiff winds;

   The fighter threw a stiff right to his opponent's jaw.

5. strong or potent to the taste or system, as a beverage or medicine.

   He was cold and wanted a good stiff drink.

6. resolute; firm in purpose; unyielding; stubborn.

   Synonyms:

   unrelenting, pertinacious, obstinate, resolved

7. stubbornly continued.

   a stiff battle.

8. firm against any tendency to decrease, as stock-market prices.

9. rigidly formal; cold and unfriendly, as people, manners, or proceedings.

   Synonyms:

   prim, constrained, reserved

10. lacking ease and grace; awkward.

    a stiff style of writing.

    Synonyms:

    inelegant, graceless

11. excessively regular or formal, as a design; not graceful in form or arrangement.

12. laborious or difficult, as a task.

13. severe or harsh, as a penalty or demand.

14. excessive; unusually high or great.

    $50 is pretty stiff to pay for that.

15. firm from tension; taut.

    to keep a stiff rein.

16. relatively firm in consistency, as semisolid matter; thick.

    a stiff jelly;

    a stiff batter.

17. dense or compact; not friable.

    stiff soil.

18. Nautical. (of a vessel) having a high resistance to rolling; stable (opposed to crank).

19. Scot. and North England. sturdy, stout, or strongly built.

20. Australian Slang. out of luck; unfortunate.

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noun

1. Slang.

   1. a dead body; corpse.

   2. a formal or priggish person.

   3. a poor tipper; tightwad.

   4. a drunk.

2. Slang.

   1. a fellow.

      lucky stiff; poor stiff.

   2. a tramp; hobo.

   3. a laborer.

3. Slang.

   1. a forged check.

   2. a promissory note or bill of exchange.

   3. a letter or note, especially if secret or smuggled.

4. Slang. a contestant, especially a racehorse, sure to lose.

adverb

1. in or to a firm or rigid state.

   The wet shirt was frozen stiff.

2. completely, intensely, or extremely: We're scared stiff.

   I'm bored stiff by these lectures.

   We're scared stiff.

verb (used with object)

• stiffs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stiffed,
  past participle,  past
• stiffing
  present participle

1. Slang. to fail or refuse to tip (a waiter, porter, etc.).

2. Slang. to cheat; swindle; do out of.

   The company stiffed me out of a week's pay.

stiff British  

/ stɪf /

adjective

1. not easily bent; rigid; inflexible

2. not working or moving easily or smoothly

   a stiff handle

3. difficult to accept in its severity or harshness

   a stiff punishment

4. moving with pain or difficulty; not supple

   a stiff neck

5. difficult; arduous

   a stiff climb

6. unrelaxed or awkward; formal

7. firmer than liquid in consistency; thick or viscous

8. powerful; strong

   a stiff breeze

   a stiff drink

9. excessively high

   a stiff price

10. nautical (of a sailing vessel) relatively resistant to heeling or rolling Compare tender 1

11. lacking grace or attractiveness

12. stubborn or stubbornly maintained

    a stiff fight

13. obsolete tightly stretched; taut

14. slang unlucky

15. slang intoxicated

16. See lip

17. informal amply provided with

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noun

1. slang a corpse

2. slang anything thought to be a loser or a failure; flop

adverb

1. completely or utterly

   bored stiff

   frozen stiff

verb

1. slang (intr) to fail

   the film stiffed

2. slang (tr) to cheat or swindle

3. slang (tr) to kill

stiff Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing stiff

• bore to death (stiff)
• keep a stiff upper lip
• scare out of one's wits (stiff)

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Synonym Usage

See firm ¹.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• stiffness
  noun
• overstiff
  adjective
• semistiff
  adjective
• stiffish
  adjective
• unstiff
  adjective
• overstiffly
  adverb
• semistiffly
  adverb
• stiffly
  adverb
• unstiffly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• stiffer
  comparative
• stiffest
  superlative

Participles

• stiffing
  present
• stiffed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• stiff
  simple
• stiffs
  simple
• have stiffed
  perfect
• has stiffed
  perfect
• am stiffing
  progressive
• are stiffing
  progressive
• is stiffing
  progressive
• have been stiffing
  perfect progressive
• has been stiffing
  perfect progressive

Past

• stiffed
  simple
• had stiffed
  perfect
• was stiffing
  progressive
• were stiffing
  progressive
• had been stiffing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will stiff
  simple
• will have stiffed
  perfect
• will be stiffing
  progressive
• will have been stiffing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of stiff

First recorded before 1000; Middle English stif, stijf, Old English stīf; cognate with German steif, Old Norse stífr; akin to Latin stīpāre “to crowd, press” ( see steeve ¹ ( def. ), stifle ¹ )

Explanation

Stiff things don’t bend or move easily. Dead bodies and tree branches are often stiff, and your back might feel stiff if you sit for too long. But to stiff the wait staff is to skip the tip. Bad idea. If a doorknob is stiff, it won't turn smoothly, and if the smile on your face is stiff, it’s frozen and unnatural looking. When a person is stiff, they are artificial and unrelaxed — unless they're "scared stiff" or "bored stiff." A regular guy is a working stiff. Another colloquial meaning of stiff is "to underpay, or to cheat.” Also, a stiff drink has a lot of alcohol. A dead body is sometimes called a stiff, but it’s rude.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stiff stiffer stiffest stiffs stiffed stiffing

Instead, the cell became too stiff and lost its ability to properly remove dying cells.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 5, 2026

Clayton told the Wall Street Journal on Saturday that Trump had insisted the new task force ensure US primacy in the AI field, amid stiff competition from China.

From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026

Millett testified that the acceleration could have been caused by Linton’s leg going stiff.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

“It used to be a fairly stiff competition for the worst chief of staff in history,” according to Chris Whipple, author of “The Gatekeepers,” the definitive book on the subject, “but Meadows absolutely owns it.”

From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026

“No, you weren’t nice,” Lola said in a stiff, awkward voice.

From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Labor advocates who have studied pesticide regulation say the oversight gaps and failures to impose stiffer fines underscore the need for more vigilant enforcement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

Manchester United will experience far stiffer tests of their Champions League credentials than Sabah FK gave them at Old Trafford.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

Over two days, three judges at the Court of Appeal in Melbourne will hear two appeals: Patterson's attempt to overturn her conviction and the prosecution's demand for a stiffer sentence.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

If the next two months show stiffer price pressures, “I have every belief that they would go,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

The cold makes the linoleum stiffer than usual.

From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Here’s where the market could face the stiffest test.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026

In a culture of aggregation and AI summary, the stiffest original thinking still feels as supple as a tone poem, and genuine intellectual ambition akin to a secular miracle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026

She had offers from England, Mexico and the United States, with sources close to the player stating Boston Legacy provided the stiffest competition.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

His penalty of life imprisonment without parole was the stiffest in New Zealand history.

From Barron's ● Feb. 8, 2026

A Welch High School display of plant fossils found in coal mines seemed our stiffest competition.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

"He has the one lawyer who he had to pay in advance because he stiffs everybody," she said on Monday's edition of "The Five," referring to Trump's $3 million payment to defense attorney Chris Kise.

From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2023

Ditto the overall vibe of rumpled, boozy Los Angeles noir, pitting the wealthy and sinister against the beaten-down but mostly noble working stiffs who make up Perry and his peers.

From New York Times ● Mar. 6, 2023

Let’s say they’re stiffs and they’re stupid people, and they say, ‘Well, we really have no choice.’

From Washington Post ● Dec. 6, 2022

Iceland has achieved the holy grail for working stiffs: same pay for shorter hours.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2021

"Just between ourselves, Blore, and taking into account that we'll probably both be a couple of stiffs before another day is out, you did indulge in that spot of perjury, I suppose?"

From "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie

These are the “private investors” who would get stiffed if Ivanpah were to shut down due to the project’s minimal asset salvage value and the sizable Energy Department loan standing first in the recovery line.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025

DuBon had been stiffed on a painting job a few weeks earlier — an employer simply refused to pay — and started going to Casa Latina instead of Home Depot.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 8, 2024

Thousands of private vendors who supplied the state with goods and services got stiffed after July 1.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2023

He has taken away people’s jobs and reportedly stiffed much smaller businesses on payments.

From Slate ● Apr. 23, 2023

Just my luck, that day somebody had stiffed him $250 for making a dent in a garage door while he was on a job.

From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina

Any reform plan from a committee would still require lawmakers to cast a difficult vote exposing them to charges of overtaxing working Americans or stiffing retirees.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

“Under Musk’s control, Twitter has become a scofflaw, stiffing employees, landlords, vendors, and others,” says the lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Northern District of California.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 4, 2024

“They are just stiffing everyone,” said Jayson Woodbridge, a California winemaker who had a reservation for a weeklong stay at the hotel to attend his daughter’s graduation in the area.

From New York Times ● May 11, 2022

One of them, you might say, was Hollywood’s most notorious tightwad, staving off the terror of poverty by stiffing servants and handing houseguests itemized bills.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2020

“If you’re not getting commissions, Becker’s stiffing you.”

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

Related Words

• brisk
• excessive
• extreme
• hard
• harsh
• heavy
• rigorous
• sharp
• steep
• strict
• stringent
• strong
• vigorous