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Stiffness   /stˈɪfnəs/   Listen
Stiffness

noun
1.
The physical property of being inflexible and hard to bend.
2.
The property of moving with pain or difficulty.
3.
Firm resoluteness in purpose or opinion or action.
4.
The inelegance of someone stiff and unrelaxed (as by embarrassment).  Synonyms: awkwardness, clumsiness, gracelessness.
5.
Excessive sternness.  Synonyms: hardness, harshness, inclemency, rigor, rigorousness, rigour, rigourousness, severeness, severity.  "The harshness of his punishment was inhuman" , "The rigors of boot camp"





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"Stiffness" Quotes from Famous Books



... at some vague future date; one of the children was unwell, and until it recovered it was impossible to fix a day. Still, they would be delighted to see him again. Her letters always had a note of stiffness in them, which was purely unintentional, or rather, purely natural, reflecting the one ...
— People of Position • Stanley Portal Hyatt
... her explanations with a certain stiffness of self-defence. She and Lady Winterbourne had evolved a scheme for reviving and improving the local industry of straw-plaiting, which after years of decay seemed now on the brink of final disappearance. The village women ...
— Marcella • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... small hickory sapling it will be the most serviceable, because its natural strength and stiffness will permit us to use a small ...
— The Wonder Island Boys: The Mysteries of the Caverns • Roger Thompson Finlay
... the brother of Professor John Playfair, the mathematician, says, "Those persons who have ever had the pleasure to be in his company may recollect that even in his common conversation the order and method he pursued without the smallest degree of formality or stiffness were beautiful, and gave a sort of pleasure to ...
— Life of Adam Smith • John Rae
... presence of the guests. Dr. Dastick, for the first and only time in my remembrance, appeared with his trousers bound with straps to the bottoms of his boots. Colonel Prowley had thrust his neck into a stock of extraordinary stiffness, which seemed to proceed from some antique coat-of-mail worn beneath the waistcoat. The collar and cuffs of Miss Prowley were wonderful in their dimensions, and fairly creaked with the starch. The clergyman, indeed, wore his dress and manners in relaxed and ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 12, No. 72, October, 1863 • Various


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