stiff-necked

[ stif-nekt ]

/ ˈstɪfˈnɛkt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR stiff-necked ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

having a stiff neck; having torticollis.

haughty and obstinate; refractory.

Nearby words

stiff, stiff as a board, stiff upper lip, stiff-arm, stiff-man syndrome, stiff-necked, stiffen, stiffener, stiffy, stifle, stifling

Origin of stiff-necked

First recorded in 1520–30

SYNONYMS FOR stiff-necked

2 stubborn, obstinate, intractable, willful, pigheaded.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR stiff-necked ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

stiff·neck·ed·ly

[stif-nek-id-lee, -nekt-lee] /ˈstɪfˈnɛk ɪd li, -ˈnɛkt li/, adverbstiff·neck·ed·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for stiff-necked

Grace had the stiff-necked Drummond pride as well as he, and would hesitate long behind the barriers of conventionality.
Not Like Other Girls|Rosa N. Carey
Should he be deterred from saying that which he conceived it would be right that he should say, because she was stiff-necked?
He Knew He Was Right|Anthony Trollope
But he was hard-mouthed, and stiff-necked and hell-bent on having his own way about things.
I Married a Ranger|Dama Margaret Smith
They were a stiff-necked, extravagant set of idols, the Old Things.
Puck of Pook's Hill|Rudyard Kipling

Now, you'd be awful foolish to act like a mean and stiff-necked female person.
North of Fifty-Three|Bertrand W. Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for stiff-necked

stiff-necked

adjective

haughtily stubborn or obstinate

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012