1
[ adjective ] lacking ease in bending; not limber

Examples

"a stiff neck" "stiff joints" "stiff hairs"

Used in print

(St. Louis Post-Dispatch,...)

Boyer is suffering from a stiff neck .

(Bruce Palmer, "My Brother's Keeper", Many Are...)

His steps were short and stiff , and , with his head thrown_back , his progress was a supercilious strut .

Related terms

inflexible

2
[ adjective ] not moving or operating freely

Examples

"a stiff hinge"

Used in print

(Frieda Arkin, "The Light of the Sea," in The...)

In the stiff neutral lines of the telephone_poles he saw the no-nonsense pen strokes of Aunt_Jessica 's letter .

Related terms

immobile

3
[ noun ] an ordinary man

Examples

"a lucky stiff" "a working stiff"

Used in print

(John Dos Passos, Midcentury....)

Sposato needed a front , some labor stiff with a clean record to act_as business_agent of the Redhook local .

With my gray hair and my weatherbeaten countenance I certainly looked the honest working stiff .

Related terms

man

4
[ adjective ] rigidly formal

Synonyms

buckram starchy

Examples

"a starchy manner" "the letter was stiff and formal" "his prose has a buckram quality"

Used in print

(Bruce Palmer, "My Brother's Keeper", Many Are...)

The stiff figure in the corner no_longer blocked his thoughts .

Related terms

formal

5
[ adjective ] powerful

Examples

"a stiff current" "a stiff breeze" "a stiff drink"

Used in print

(James Thurber, "The Future, If Any, of Comedy,"...)

`` I have come to talk with you about the future of humor and comedy '' , I told him , at which he started slightly , and_then made us each a stiff drink , with a trembling hand .

Related terms

strong

6
[ adjective ] hard to overcome or surmount

Synonyms

uphill

Examples

"a stiff hike" "a stiff exam" "an uphill battle against a popular incumbent"

Related terms

hard

7
[ adjective ] of a collar; standing up rather than folded down

Synonyms

stand-up

Examples

"an uncomfortable standup collar" "a stiff collar"

Related terms

inflexible

8
[ adjective ] incapable of or resistant to bending

Synonyms

rigid

Examples

"a rigid strip of metal" "a table made of rigid plastic" "a palace guardsman stiff as a poker"

Related terms

inflexible

9
[ adverb ] extremely

Examples

"bored stiff" "frightened stiff"

10
[ adverb ] in a stiff manner

Synonyms

stiffly

Examples

"his hands lay stiffly"

11
[ noun ] Last name, frequency rank in the U.S. is 11622
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14
[ noun ] the dead body of a human being

Related terms

body cremains

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