Transcription
-
- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
-
- [stif]
- /stɪf/
- /stɪf/
-
- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
-
- [stif]
- /stɪf/
Definitions of stiff word
- adjective stiff rigid or firm; difficult or impossible to bend or flex: a stiff collar. 1
- adjective stiff not moving or working easily: The motor was a little stiff from the cold weather. 1
- adjective stiff (of a person or animal) not supple; moving with difficulty, as from cold, age, exhaustion, or injury. 1
- adjective stiff strong; forceful; powerful: stiff winds; The fighter threw a stiff right to his opponent's jaw. 1
- adjective stiff strong or potent to the taste or system, as a beverage or medicine: He was cold and wanted a good stiff drink. 1
- adjective stiff resolute; firm in purpose; unyielding; stubborn. 1
Information block about the term
Origin of stiff
First appearance:
before 1000 One of the 6% oldest English words
before 1000; Middle English (adj. and adv.); Old English stīf; cognate with German steif; akin to stifle1, steeve1
Historical Comparancy
Parts of speech for Stiff
noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
stiff popularity
A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 95% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".
stiff usage trend in Literature
This diagram is provided by Google Ngram ViewerSynonyms for stiff
adj stiff
- absonant — inharmonious
- adamant — If someone is adamant about something, they are determined not to change their mind about it.
- all thumbs — clumsy
- an arm and a leg — If you say that something costs an arm and a leg, you mean that it is very expensive.
- anguished — Anguished means showing or feeling great mental suffering or physical pain.
noun stiff
- bacchanalian — characterized by or involving drunken revelry
- barfly — A barfly is a person who spends a lot of time drinking in bars
- bibber — a drinker; tippler (esp in the expression wine-bibber)
- bindle — a small bundle of possessions carried by a homeless person
- blue collar — of or relating to wage-earning workers who wear work clothes or other specialized clothing on the job, as mechanics, longshoremen, and miners. Compare white-collar.
verb stiff
- bankrupted — Law. a person who upon his or her own petition or that of his or her creditors is adjudged insolvent by a court and whose property is administered for and divided among his or her creditors under a bankruptcy law.
- beat around the bush — to talk around a subject without getting to the point
- bunco — a swindle, esp one by confidence tricksters
- caboodle — a lot, bunch, or group (esp in the phrases the whole caboodle, the whole kit and caboodle)
- cheat — When someone cheats, they do not obey a set of rules which they should be obeying, for example in a game or exam.
adjective stiff
- annealed — Simple past tense and past participle of anneal.
- arrect — (of animals' ears) pricked up
- arthritic — Arthritic is used to describe the condition, the pain, or the symptoms of arthritis.
- casehardened — Simple past tense and past participle of caseharden.
- clabbered — Simple past tense and past participle of clabber.
Antonyms for stiff
adj stiff
- adaptable — If you describe a person or animal as adaptable, you mean that they are able to change their ideas or behaviour in order to deal with new situations.
- ambulant — moving about from place to place
- ambulatory — of, relating to, or designed for walking
- at large — You use at large to indicate that you are talking in a general way about most of the people mentioned.
- balletic — If you describe someone's movements as balletic, you mean that they have some of the graceful qualities of ballet.
adjective stiff
- elastic — (of an object or material) able to resume its normal shape spontaneously after contraction, dilatation, or distortion.
- elvish — Of or having to do with elves.
- gymnastic — of or relating to physical exercises that develop and demonstrate strength, balance, and agility, especially such exercises performed mostly on special equipment.
- limp — to walk with a labored, jerky movement, as when lame.
- lissom — lithesome or lithe, especially of body; supple; flexible.
Top questions with stiff
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