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stiff
[ stif ]
adjective
- rigid or firm; difficult or impossible to bend or flex:
a stiff collar.
Synonyms: ,
- not moving or working easily:
The motor was a little stiff from the cold weather.
- (of a person or animal) not supple; moving with difficulty, as from cold, age, exhaustion, or injury.
stiff winds;
The fighter threw a stiff right to his opponent's jaw.
- strong or potent to the taste or system, as a beverage or medicine:
He was cold and wanted a good stiff drink.
- resolute; firm in purpose; unyielding; stubborn.
Synonyms: , , ,
- stubbornly continued:
a stiff battle.
- firm against any tendency to decrease, as stock-market prices.
- rigidly formal; cold and unfriendly, as people, manners, or proceedings.
Synonyms: , ,
- lacking ease and grace; awkward:
a stiff style of writing.
Synonyms: ,
- excessively regular or formal, as a design; not graceful in form or arrangement.
- laborious or difficult, as a task.
- severe or harsh, as a penalty or demand.
- excessive; unusually high or great:
$50 is pretty stiff to pay for that.
- firm from tension; taut:
to keep a stiff rein.
- relatively firm in consistency, as semisolid matter; thick:
a stiff jelly;
a stiff batter.
- dense or compact; not friable:
stiff soil.
- Nautical. (of a vessel) having a high resistance to rolling; stable ( crank 2 ).
- Scot. and North England. sturdy, stout, or strongly built.
- Australian Slang. out of luck; unfortunate.
noun
- Slang.
- a dead body; corpse.
- a formal or priggish person.
- a poor tipper; tightwad.
- a drunk.
- Slang.
- a fellow:
lucky stiff; poor stiff.
- a tramp; hobo.
- a laborer.
- Slang.
- a forged check.
- a promissory note or bill of exchange.
- a letter or note, especially if secret or smuggled.
- Slang. a contestant, especially a racehorse, sure to lose.
adverb
- in or to a firm or rigid state:
The wet shirt was frozen stiff.
- completely, intensely, or extremely: We're scared stiff.
I'm bored stiff by these lectures.
We're scared stiff.
stiff
/ ɪ /
adjective
- not easily bent; rigid; inflexible
- not working or moving easily or smoothly
a stiff handle
- difficult to accept in its severity or harshness
a stiff punishment
- moving with pain or difficulty; not supple
a stiff neck
- difficult; arduous
a stiff climb
- unrelaxed or awkward; formal
- firmer than liquid in consistency; thick or viscous
- powerful; strong
a stiff breeze
a stiff drink
- excessively high
a stiff price
- nautical (of a sailing vessel) relatively resistant to heeling or rolling Compare tender 1
- lacking grace or attractiveness
- stubborn or stubbornly maintained
a stiff fight
- obsolete.tightly stretched; taut
- slang.unlucky
- slang.intoxicated
- stiff upper lipSee lip
- stiff with informal.amply provided with
noun
- slang.a corpse
- slang.anything thought to be a loser or a failure; flop
adverb
- completely or utterly
frozen stiff
bored stiff
verb
- slang.intr to fail
the film stiffed
- slang.tr to cheat or swindle
- slang.tr to kill
Derived Forms
- ˈپڴھ, adjective
- ˈپڴڲԱ, noun
- ˈپڴڱ, adverb
Other Word Forms
- پڴ· adjective
- پڴ· adverb
- پڴ·Ա noun
- ··پڴ adjective
- o·ver·پڴ· adverb
- ··پڴ adjective
- sem·i·پڴ· adverb
- ܲ·پڴ adjective
- un·پڴ· adverb
Word History and Origins
Origin of stiff1
Word History and Origins
Origin of stiff1
Idioms and Phrases
- bore to death (stiff)
- keep a stiff upper lip
- scare out of one's wits (stiff)
Synonym Study
Example Sentences
Initially, their movements are stiff and restricted but, as Taylor describes suffocating relationships with emotionally-stunted men, they start to thrash and jerk their bodies.
The company is fighting off stiff competition from Chinese firms as the government pushes for advanced tech manufacturing in a race with the US.
But a recent diagnosis of stiff person syndrome was off the mark.
But a recent diagnosis of stiff person syndrome was off the mark.
Saffanah, from Stockton-on-Tees, fell ill in January after complaining of a stiff neck and light sensitivity, and within 24 hours she was in an induced coma.
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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.
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