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.
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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
She has also vowed to stiffen prison sentences and to impose a state of emergency in areas worst hit by crime.
From Barron's ● Feb. 1, 2026
In people with Alzheimer's, Aβ accumulates and causes arteries to stiffen, slowing the flow of fluids between brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2025
This leads them to weaken and stiffen over time and usually affects how you walk, talk, eat and breathe.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2025
I stiffen, afraid for a moment that she will see me, but she looks only at Marcus.
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
Once the pH returns to normal, the tissue stiffens again and locks into its new form.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026
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
More than 13% of Americans 75 and older have the condition, in which the aortic valve stiffens and narrows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026
That creates a curve or bend in the material, which also stiffens it.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026
The mention of the Scholar girl is so incongruous to my thoughts that for a second I’m stunned silent, and Helene stiffens.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
The Romans, their ranks stiffened by Genoese and Venetian troops, did their best to resist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Others argued the particles stiffened the surrounding material like glue.
From Science Daily ● May 13, 2026
“But the cat stiffened and I stiffened whenever anybody moved, aware of all the possible lives being lived around us.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 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
German troops advanced to within four miles of Verdun, but as French resistance stiffened, the Germans were halted and could not push their positions forward.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
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
Speaking to the BBC, he said with a "stiffening resolve" politicians could "take back control" of the levers of democracy.
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2026
It smashed 300-pound spheres swinging on a pendulum into a fuselage panel to deliberately damage it, causing one of the stiffening rods to break, then repeatedly applied loads representative of those in flight 40,000 times.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 15, 2024
After squeezing Thomas’s hand, then Chuck’s shoulder, she leaped off the edge, immediately stiffening her legs, with her arms by her sides.
From "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner
Vocabulary lists containing stiffen
