stiffen
Americanverb (used with object)
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stiffens,
present (3rd person singular)
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stiffened,
past participle, past
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stiffening
present participle
verb (used without object)
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stiffens,
present (3rd person singular)
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stiffened,
past participle, past
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stiffening
present participle
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to become stiff.
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to become suddenly tense, rigid, or taut, as in bracing oneself for or drawing back from shock, fear, or displeasure.
He stiffened, expecting to hear the worst.
verb
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to make or become stiff or stiffer
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(intr) to become suddenly tense or unyielding
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stiffensimple
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stiffenssimple
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have stiffenedperfect
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has stiffenedperfect
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am stiffeningprogressive
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are stiffeningprogressive
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is stiffeningprogressive
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have been stiffeningperfect progressive
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has been stiffeningperfect progressive
Past
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stiffenedsimple
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had stiffenedperfect
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was stiffeningprogressive
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were stiffeningprogressive
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had been stiffeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stiffen
Explanation
To stiffen is to become stiff or unbending. If your legs stiffen during a long plane flight, you'll want to stretch them out once you land. You can stiffen something deliberately, like when you stiffen a package with cardboard to protect it in the mail. You can also stiffen in reaction to something: "The spooky creaking sounds upstairs made us stiffen in terror." The earliest sense of this verb was "make steadfast," from a now-obsolete meaning of stiff, "gain strength."
Vocabulary lists containing stiffen
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.
See Examples For:
“People get scared of the sway, the wobble. If you’ve had a fall before, you get a fear of falling again and you stiffen up, you become protective,” Swanson says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
"He'd started to stiffen because he had been there for so long, dead, with no-one noticing. It's horrific to think someone's loved one died with no one near them."
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
Depending on the situation, the material can bend, buckle, or stiffen in different ways, all without electronics, sensors, or active control systems.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 11, 2026
These are, Mr. Freymann writes, “tempting targets,” but seizing them could stiffen the resolve of Taiwan and its Western friends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
I stiffen, afraid for a moment that she will see me, but she looks only at Marcus.
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
The biggest reason is that our maximum heart rate slows with age, and the heart muscle stiffens, reducing its pumping effectiveness.
From Barron's ● May 23, 2026
Over time, inflammation can progress to fibrosis and scarring that stiffens the liver.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2026
Last year, Alibaba announced a plan to fold food-delivery and online-travel services into its e-commerce unit as competition stiffens in the Chinese market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
The degenerative disease creates scar tissue that stiffens the lungs making it difficult to breathe and for oxygen to enter the bloodstream.
From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2025
But today, instead of her usual greeting, Did you sleep well, Uhmma’s back stiffens and she quickly puts something into a brown paper bag she is holding at her side.
From "A Step from Heaven" by An Na
When the heart must work harder because of exercise, heat, stress or another cause, stiffened blood vessels may be less able to accommodate the increased blood flow.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
They reckon it may have stiffened the resolve of the German public and discouraged rebels within the dying Nazi regime.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 12, 2026
The barrels -- bound tightly with rope, their fabric skins stiffened and darkened with lacquer -- inevitably recall the Gulf's vast hydrocarbon wealth.
From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026
Her roles in the 1950s diminished in plausibility, and Crawford’s acting stiffened into rigid self-presentation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
Suddenly, while Jody watched, the black dog stiffened, and backed out of the hole and looked up the hill toward the cleft in the ridge where the road came through.
From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck
Softening rather than stiffening when moving through space requires embracing your body’s natural sway and tiny micro-movements, like an ankle wobbling or knee jiggling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
IPF is a chronic, progressive lung disease characterized by irreversible scarring and stiffening of lung tissue.
From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026
It’s hard to imagine a greater accomplishment than to achieve peace while stiffening the sinews of deterrence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026
These findings further support the idea that chronic inflammation drives tissue stiffening.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 24, 2026
Feeling for the first time that I could speak to listening ears, I wrote a wild, crude poem in free verse, coining images of black hands playing, working, holding bayonets, stiffening finally in death ...
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
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.
