stony
Americanadjective
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full of or abounding in stones or rock.
a stony beach.
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pertaining to or characteristic of stone.
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resembling or suggesting stone, especially in its hardness.
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unfeeling; merciless; obdurate.
a stony heart.
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motionless or rigid; without expression, as the eyes or a look.
a hard, stony stare.
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petrifying; stupefying.
stony fear.
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Slang. stone-broke.
adjective
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of or resembling stone
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abounding in stone or stones
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unfeeling, heartless, or obdurate
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short for stony-broke
Other Word Forms
- stonily adverb
- stoniness noun
- unstonily adverb
- unstoniness noun
- unstony adjective
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
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The Secret Garden
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"Lift Every Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson
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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.
The last part of our journey is a climb up a stony hillside.
From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026
They sit in stony silence because they are watching their life’s work being systematically dismantled.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 1, 2026
But instead Petrosian was left stony faced, and she exited the stage quickly when it was confirmed she had missed the podium.
From BBC • Feb. 19, 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
Aunt Kate’s face was stony and her lips tight, but there was something tender in her eyes.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
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.
