Synonyms for stiffness
noun inflexibilityAntonyms for stiffness
cramp
frigidity
frigidness
rigor
- accuracy
- affliction
- asperity
- austerity
- conscientiousness
- conventionalism
- difficulty
- exactitude
- firmness
- hardness
- hardship
- harshness
- inclemency
- inflexibility
- intolerance
- meticulousness
- obduracy
- ordeal
- preciseness
- precision
- privation
- punctiliousness
- rigidity
- roughness
- severity
- sternness
- stiffness
- stringency
- suffering
- tenacity
- thoroughness
- traditionalism
- trial
- tribulation
- vicissitude
- visitation
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.