stiff
rigid or firm; difficult or impossible to bend or flex: a stiff collar.
not moving or working easily: The motor was a little stiff from the cold weather.
(of a person or animal) not supple; moving with difficulty, as from cold, age, exhaustion, or injury.
strong or potent to the taste or system, as a beverage or medicine: He was cold and wanted a good stiff drink.
resolute; firm in purpose; unyielding; stubborn.
stubbornly continued: a stiff battle.
firm against any tendency to decrease, as stock-market prices.
rigidly formal; cold and unfriendly, as people, manners, or proceedings.
lacking ease and grace; awkward: a stiff style of writing.
excessively regular or formal, as a design; not graceful in form or arrangement.
laborious or difficult, as a task.
severe or harsh, as a penalty or demand.
excessive; unusually high or great: $50 is pretty stiff to pay for that.
firm from tension; taut: to keep a stiff rein.
relatively firm in consistency, as semisolid matter; thick: a stiff jelly;a stiff batter.
dense or compact; not friable: stiff soil.
Nautical. (of a vessel) having a high resistance to rolling; stable (opposed to crank2).
Scot. and North England. sturdy, stout, or strongly built.
Australian Slang. out of luck; unfortunate.
Slang.
a dead body; corpse.
a formal or priggish person.
a poor tipper; tightwad.
a drunk.
Slang.
a fellow: lucky stiff; poor stiff.
a tramp; hobo.
a laborer.
Slang.
a forged check.
a promissory note or bill of exchange.
a letter or note, especially if secret or smuggled.
Slang. a contestant, especially a racehorse, sure to lose.
in or to a firm or rigid state: The wet shirt was frozen stiff.
completely, intensely, or extremely: I'm bored stiff by these lectures.We're scared stiff.
Origin of stiff
1synonym study For stiff
Other words for stiff
1 | unbending, unyielding |
6 | resolved, obstinate, pertinacious; unrelenting |
9 | reserved, constrained, starched, prim |
10 | graceless, inelegant |
Other words from stiff
- stiff·ish, adjective
- stiff·ly, adverb
- stiff·ness, noun
- o·ver·stiff, adjective
- o·ver·stiff·ly, adverb
- sem·i·stiff, adjective
- sem·i·stiff·ly, adverb
- un·stiff, adjective
- un·stiff·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use stiff in a sentence
After the U.S., China and other world powers imposed stiffer sanctions on Iran in 2009, Li “went underground.”
All told, Obama faces a challenge stiffer than passing health care.
Black women receive stiffer and longer punishment than white women for drug-related offenses as well.
Stiffer corporate income tax: This one I imagine Democrats would like to do.
The longer you cook a cranberry sauce, the more pectin is released and liquid is evaporated, and the stiffer the result will be.
The loose black volcanic earth (terra pulla) was easier to work than the stiffer Roman soil, and gave three or four crops a year.
But jest this afternoon they gut ketched by the frost, an' now there they be stiffer'n stakes.
Season with salt, pepper, and butter, and add sufficient milk to make a paste that is a trifle stiffer than for mashed potatoes.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 3 | Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and SciencesA good plan is to allow it to become very cold, for then it will be much stiffer and may be handled more easily.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4 | Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and SciencesHe was a genuine eighteenth-century exquisite, rather stiffer than the French, maybe, but completely in the spirit.
Sea and Sardinia | D. H. Lawrence
British Dictionary definitions for stiff
/ (stɪf) /
not easily bent; rigid; inflexible
not working or moving easily or smoothly: a stiff handle
difficult to accept in its severity or harshness: a stiff punishment
moving with pain or difficulty; not supple: a stiff neck
difficult; arduous: a stiff climb
unrelaxed or awkward; formal
firmer than liquid in consistency; thick or viscous
powerful; strong: a stiff breeze; a stiff drink
excessively high: a stiff price
nautical (of a sailing vessel) relatively resistant to heeling or rolling: Compare tender 1 (def. 11)
lacking grace or attractiveness
stubborn or stubbornly maintained: a stiff fight
obsolete tightly stretched; taut
slang, mainly Australian unlucky
slang intoxicated
stiff upper lip See lip (def. 9)
stiff with informal amply provided with
slang a corpse
slang anything thought to be a loser or a failure; flop
completely or utterly: bored stiff; frozen stiff
(intr) slang to fail: the film stiffed
(tr) slang, mainly US to cheat or swindle
(tr) slang to kill
Origin of stiff
1Derived forms of stiff
- stiffish, adjective
- stiffly, adverb
- stiffness, noun
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with stiff
In addition to the idioms beginning with stiff
- stiff as a board
- stiff upper lip
also see:
- bore to death (stiff)
- keep a stiff upper lip
- scare out of one's wits (stiff)
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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