stiffness

nouninflexibility

Synonyms for stiffness

noun inflexibility

Antonyms for stiffness

Word Origin & History

Old English stif "rigid, inflexible," from Proto-Germanic *stifaz "inflexible" (cf. Dutch stijf, Old High German stif, German steif "stiff;" Old Norse stifla "choke"), from PIE *stipos-, from root *steip- "press together, pack, cram" (cf. Sanskrit styayate "coagulates," stima "slow;" Greek stia, stion "small stone," steibo "press together;" Latin stipare "pack down, press," stipes "post, tree trunk;" Lithuanian stipti "stiffen," stiprus "strong;" Old Church Slavonic stena "wall"). Of battles and competitions, from mid-13c.; of liquor, from 1813. To keep a stiff upper lip is attested from 1815.

Example Sentences forstiffness

In everything that bows gracefully there must be an effort at stiffness.

She seemed to have smoothed away all the Boston stiffness as she smoothed her dress.

Markest thou not the stiffness wherewith he moves his left leg!'

Her hair was dazzlingly yellow, and arranged with all the stiffness of the coiffeur's art.

Of straight lines there are many, but of stiffness there is none.

He was opening and closing his fingers to take the stiffness of the frost out of them.

Therefore this stiffness in his figure was just the right thing.

There was nothing of the stiffness of the model in her attitudes.

There's no stiffness and formality, and all that kind of thing.

In general his stiffness was insular, his pre-occupation profound.

stiffness

Synonyms for stiffness

Antonyms for stiffness

cramp

distance

frigidity

frigidness

rigor

stiffness

Synonyms for stiffness

Antonyms for stiffness

More words related to stiffness

austerity

cramp

distance

frigidity

frigidness

rigor