stony
Americanadjective
-
stonier,
comparative
-
stoniest
superlative
-
full of or abounding in stones or rock.
a stony beach.
-
pertaining to or characteristic of stone.
-
resembling or suggesting stone, especially in its hardness.
-
unfeeling; merciless; obdurate.
a stony heart.
-
motionless or rigid; without expression, as the eyes or a look.
a hard, stony stare.
-
petrifying; stupefying.
stony fear.
-
Slang. stone-broke.
adjective
-
of or resembling stone
-
abounding in stone or stones
-
unfeeling, heartless, or obdurate
-
short for stony-broke
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of stony
before 1000; Middle English; Old English stānig. See stone, -y 1
Explanation
Someone who's stony shows little emotion or sympathy for other people. As your math teacher hands back last week's geometry quiz, her stony face won't seem like a very good sign. A face with a stony expression is so lacking in feeling that it is "like stone." The other way to use the adjective stony is to mean "with lots of stones," like when you talk about a stony blueberry field in Maine or a stony path leading up to a lush garden. Stony comes from the Old English stanig, with its root of stan, "rock or gem."
Vocabulary lists containing stony
The Crucible
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The Secret Garden
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"Lift Every Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Instead, Abbass plays her as a woman who, since the attack, has learned to make her face a stony mask.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Behind it, a revolving turntable exposed rubble-strewn outdoor expanses and the grim, stony interiors of Macbeth’s castle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Forgotten animal pens, decaying cages and stony backdrops now sit in various states of abandonment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 2026
But it was his grittiest—and that’s all Indiana needed for its famously stony coach to drop the scowl.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 20, 2026
No shadows steal upon this hard glare, the stony vineyards shimmer in the sun and the bougainvillaea is white with dust.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
It seemed both more substantial and more subdued, stonier and less exuberant.
From New York Times ● Jan. 15, 2021
But with Diana as a contrast, the Queen is suddenly less regal and a good deal stonier.
From Salon ● Nov. 14, 2020
Yet in my experience, these wines very much bore out what I would have expected to see: The Crozes-Hermitage was the most open, and the St.-Joseph more tightly wound and stonier.
From New York Times ● Oct. 8, 2020
That being said, the dismal returns of RoboCop prove the soil in Q1 is stonier than we think. digging.
From Time ● Feb. 19, 2014
Mum was looking stonier and stonier as the rockery in the garden and the rockery in her blueprint got more and more different.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Sarah Paulson operates under the belief that blood once flowed through even the stoniest of hearts.
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2020
Mini Grey's deliciously inventive story told through illustrations with familiar speech bubble comments will make even the stoniest and least imaginative hearts and minds believe in this beautifully imagined fantasy.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 24, 2012
Only the stoniest of hearts remains unmoved during the "reveal", as the needy, war veterans and people with disabled kids are gifted the house of their dreams.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 11, 2011
A fast-moving British film that follows a killer and a little girl around Cardiff, produces enough suspense to bring sweat to stoniest foreheads.
From Time Magazine Archive
The gentle softening dew persists in distilling even on the hardest stoniest soil.
From Quiet Talks on John's Gospel by S. D. (Samuel Dickey) Gordon
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
