stiff
not moving or operating freely
How often you will meet it
Rank 2,729 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 6,083 times across 155,139 chapters — 0.003% of every word in the library.
What it means
adjective
- not moving or operating freely a stiff hinge
- powerful a stiff currenta stiff breeze
- rigidly formal also: starchy, buckram a starchy mannerthe letter was stiff and formal
- having a strong physiological or chemical effect also: potent, strong a potent toxinpotent liquor
- marked by firm determination or resolution; not shakable also: firm, steadfast, steady, unbendable, unfaltering, unshakable firm convictionsa firm mouth
- incapable of or resistant to bending also: rigid a rigid strip of metala table made of rigid plastic
noun
- an ordinary man a lucky stiffa working stiff
stiff in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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Cold, stiff, aping evidently the English style, he expressed himself in brief sentences, and with a strong foreign accent.
Other People's Money · Emile Gaboriau · Chapter 1
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He stared at the bend, expecting to see the stiff, plain figure of the detective emerge from the forest.
The Abandoned Room · Wadsworth Camp · Chapter 1
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The sword shall plane the furrows of thy brows, And hew these knees that now are grown so stiff.
Edward the Second · Christopher Marlowe · Chapter 1
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He was stiff and sore all over, and feeling braver in the light 'e stepped softly upstairs and opened the door.
Bill's Lapse Odd Craft, Part 4. · W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs · Chapter 1
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They are stiff, and it is my mother-in-law who is sometimes ill at ease, though she gushes and blusters as usual.
The Reflections of Ambrosine: A Novel · Elinor Glyn · Chapter 1