Word Meanings - STIFF - Book Publishers vocabulary database

Bearing a press of canvas without careening much; as, a stiff vessel; -- opposed to crank. Totten. 8. Very large, strong, or costly; powerful; as, a stiff charge; a stiff price. Stiff neck, a condition of the neck such that the head can not be

Additional info about word: STIFF

Bearing a press of canvas without careening much; as, a stiff vessel; -- opposed to crank. Totten. 8. Very large, strong, or costly; powerful; as, a stiff charge; a stiff price. Stiff neck, a condition of the neck such that the head can not be moved without difficulty and pain. Syn. -- Rigid; inflexible; strong; hardly; stubborn; obstinate; pertinacious; harsh; formal; constrained; affected; starched; rigorous. (more info) stif; akin to D. stijf, G. steif, Dan. stiv, Sw. styf, Icel. stifr, Lith. stipti to be stiff; cf. L. stipes a post, trunk of a tree, stipare to press, compress. Cf. Costive, Stifle, Stipulate, Stive to 1. Not easily bent; not flexible or pliant; not limber or flaccid; rigid; firm; as, stiff wood, paper, joints. rising on stiff pennons, tower The mid aërial sky. Milton. 2. Not liquid or fluid; thick and tenacious; inspissated; neither soft nor hard; as, the paste is stiff. 3. Firm; strong; violent; difficult to oppose; as, a stiff gale or breeze. 4. Not easily subdued; unyielding; stubborn; obstinate; pertinacious; as, a stiff adversary. It is a shame to stand stiff in a foolish argument. Jer. Taylor. A war ensues: the Cretans own their cause, Stiff to defend their hospitable laws. Dryden. 5. Not natural and easy; formal; constrained; affected; starched; as, stiff behavior; a stiff style. The French are open, familiar, and talkative; the Italians stiff, ceremonious, and reserved. Addison. 6. Harsh; disagreeable; severe; hard to bear. "This is stiff news." Shak.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of STIFF)

• Formal
• Regular
• complete
• shapely
• sufficient
• correct
• stately
• dignified
• ceremonious
• pompous
• stiff
• precise
• explicit
• exact
• affected
• methodical
• Pompous
• Magnificent
• gorgeous
• splendid
• showy
• sumptuous
• ostentatious
• lofty
• grand
• bombastic
• turgid
• Inflated
• pretentious
• coxcombical
• assuming
• Prim
• demure
• starched
• self-conscious
• unbending
• priggish
• Rigid
• Stiff
• unpliant
• unflexible
• stubborn
• tough
• stark
• staunch
• unswerving
• undeviating
• austere
• Stubborn
• Tough
• unyielding
• hard
• obstinate
• intractable
• obdurate
• harsh
• inflexible
• headstrong
• refractory
• heady
• contumacious
• pig-headed

Possible antonyms: (opposite words of STIFF)

• Spare
• falsify
• corrupt

Related words: (words related to STIFF)

• STAUNCH; STAUNCHLY; STAUNCHNESS
  See ETC
• MAGNIFICENTLY
  In a Magnificent manner.
• FORMALITY
  The dress prescribed for any body of men, academical, municipal, or sacerdotal. The doctors attending her in their formalities as far as Shotover. Fuller. 6. That which is formal; the formal part. It unties the inward knot of marriage, . . . while
• DEMURE
  good manners); de of + murs, mours, meurs, mors, F. m, fr. L. mores manners, morals ; or more prob. fr. OF. meür, F. mûr mature, ripe in a phrase preceded by de, as de 1. Of sober or serious mien; composed and decorous in bearing; of modest
• ASSUMABLE
  That may be assumed.
• SPLENDIDIOUS
  Splendid.
• INFLATE
  Blown in; inflated. Chaucer.
• GRANDEUR
  The state or quality of being grand; vastness; greatness; splendor; magnificence; stateliness; sublimity; dignity; elevation of thought or expression; nobility of action. Nor doth this grandeur and majestic show Of luxury . . . allure mine eye.
• GORGEOUS
  Imposing through splendid or various colors; showy; fine; magnificent. Cloud-land, gorgeous land. Coleridge. Gogeous as the sun at midsummer. Shak. -- Gor"geous*ly, adv. -- Gor"geous*ness, n. (more info) luxurious; cf. OF. gorgias ruff,
• PIG-HEADED
  Having a head like a pig; hence, figuratively: stupidity obstinate; perverse; stubborn. B. Jonson. -- Pig"-head`ed*ness, n.
• REGULARITY
  The condition or quality of being regular; as, regularity of outline; the regularity of motion.
• AFFECTATIONIST
  One who exhibits affectation. Fitzed. Hall.
• EXACTOR
  One who exacts or demands by authority or right; hence, an extortioner; also, one unreasonably severe in injunctions or demands. Jer. Taylor.
• CORRECTLY
  In a correct manner; exactly; acurately; without fault or error.
• STIFFENER
  One who, or that which, stiffens anything, as a piece of stiff cloth in a cravat.
• EXACTING
  Oppressive or unreasonably severe in making demands or requiring the exact fulfillment of obligations; harsh; severe. "A temper so exacting." T. Arnold -- Ex*act"ing*ly, adv. -- Ex*act"ing*ness, n.
• CORRUPTIONIST
  One who corrupts, or who upholds corruption. Sydney Smith.
• GRANDEESHIP
  The rank or estate of a grandee; lordship. H. Swinburne.
• CORRUPTIBLE
  1. Capable of being made corrupt; subject to decay. "Our corruptible bodies." Hooker. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. 1 Pet. i. 18. 2. Capable of being corrupted, or morally vitiated; susceptible of depravation.
• INFLATED
  Hollow and distended, as a perianth, corolla, nectary, or pericarp. Martyn. 4. Distended or enlarged fictitiously; as, inflated prices, etc. (more info) 1. Filled, as with air or gas; blown up; distended; as, a balloon inflated with gas. 2. Turgid;
• REFORMALIZE
  To affect reformation; to pretend to correctness.
• INSUFFICIENTLY
  In an insufficient manner or degree; unadequately.
• INEXACTLY
  In a manner not exact or precise; inaccurately. R. A. Proctor.
• NON ASSUMPSIT
  The general plea or denial in an action of assumpsit.
• IRREGULARITY
  The state or quality of being irregular; that which is irregular.
• OVERAFFECT
  To affect or care for unduly. Milton.
• MISAFFECT
  To dislike.
• INEXACT
  Not exact; not precisely correct or true; inaccurate.
• TRANSPARENT
  transparere to be transparent; L. trans across, through + parere to 1. Having the property of transmitting rays of light, so that bodies can be distinctly seen through; pervious to light; diaphanous; pellucid; as, transparent glass; a transparent