English Explanatory Dictionary

stiff

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Rigid; hard to bend; inflexible.
  2. Inflexible; rigid.
  3. Formal in behavior; unrelaxed.
  4. Harsh, severe.
  5. Painful or more rigid than usual as a result of excessive or unaccustomed exercise.
  6. Potent.
  7. Expensive, pricey.
  8. Dead, deceased.
  9. Erect.
  10. Having a dense consistency; thick; (by extension) Difficult to stir.
  11. Beaten until so aerated that they stand up straight on their own.
  12. Of an equation, for which certain numerical solving methods are numerically unstable, unless the step size is taken to be extremely small.
noun
  1. An average person, usually male, of no particular distinction, skill, or education.
  2. A person who is deceived, as a mark or pigeon in a swindle.
  3. A cadaver; a dead person.
  4. A flop; a commercial failure.
  5. A person who leaves (especially a restaurant) without paying the bill.
  6. A customer who does not leave a tip.
  7. Any hard hand where it is possible to exceed 21 by drawing an additional card.
  8. Negotiable instruments, possibly forged.
  9. A note or letter surreptitiously sent by an inmate.
verb
  1. To fail to pay that which one owes (implicitly or explicitly) to another, especially by departing hastily.
  2. To cheat someone.
  3. To tip ungenerously.
  4. To kill.
  5. To be unsuccessful.
adv
  1. Of the wind, with great force; strongly.
  2. Very thoroughly.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/stɪf/ en-us-stiff.ogg

Word forms

stiff stiffer stiffest stiffs stiffing stiffed more stiff most stiff

Etymology

From Middle English stiff, stiffe, stif, from Old English stīf, from Proto-West Germanic *stīf, from Proto-Germanic *stīfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *steypós. See also West Frisian stiif, Dutch stijf, Norwegian Bokmål stiv, German steif; also Latin stīpes, stīpō, from which English stevedore. The expected Modern English form would be /staɪf/; /stɪf/ is probably originally from compounds such as stiffly, where the vowel was shortened before a consonant cluster.

Synonyms

firm frozen hard hardened immalleable inflexible ossified petrified rigid solid stark stubborn stiff taut tight unbending unlimber unyielding brutal heavy powerful strong departed no more asleep at rest blessed cadaverous clay-cold deceased resting decomposed defunct expired extinct fey gone good inanimate inert kaput killed late lifeless living impaired low no longer with us perished reposing six feet deep six feet under unalive unalived wasted whilom with God tumescent gooey thickflowing lentous

Antonyms

flexible loose malleable slack soft

Related words

bindlestiff

Derived words

bindle stiff bored stiff diabetic stiff hand syndrome frozen stiff nonstiff overstiff scared stiff stiff-arm stiff as a board stiff as a poker stiff-backed stiff cheddar stiffen stiff-hearted stiffish stiff-leaf goldenrod stiffleg stifflike stiff-lipped stiff man syndrome stiff neck stiffnecked stiff-necked stiffness stiff peak stiff peaks stiff-person syndrome stiff person syndrome stiff porridge stiffship stiff shit stiff sickness stiff skin syndrome Stiff Street stifftail stiff-tailed duck stiff 'un stiff upper lip stiffware stiffy unstiff do a bit of stiff lucky stiff mission stiff working stiff stiff up

Translations

Assamese: থিৰ Assamese: ঠেৰেঙা Bulgarian: корав Bulgarian: нееластичен Catalan: rígid Chinese Mandarin: 硬 Chinese Mandarin: 僵硬 Chinese Mandarin: 不屈 Chinese Mandarin: 不折 Dutch: rigide Dutch: stug Dutch: stijf Finnish: jäykkä French: rigide French: raide Galician: irto Galician: rixo German: steif German: starr Hungarian: merev Italian: rigido Japanese: 硬い Khmer: រឹង Korean: 딱딱한 Latin: rigidus Latin: rigēns Latvian: stīvs Latvian: stings Latvian: stingrs Nepali: कडा Nepali: कठोर Nepali: दह्रो Norman: rigide Norwegian Bokmål: stiv Norwegian Nynorsk: stiv Plautdietsch: stiew Polish: sztywny Portuguese: rígido Portuguese: duro Portuguese: inflexível Portuguese: rijo Portuguese: hirto Portuguese: firme Russian: жёсткий Russian: неги́бкий Russian: твёрдый Scottish Gaelic: rag Sicilian: duru Sicilian: pisanti Lower Sorbian: pšosty Spanish: rígido Spanish: duro Spanish: tieso Spanish: inflexible Swedish: stel Swedish: oböjlig Thai: แข็ง Unami: chinkale Unami: chinkalsi Vietnamese: cứng Volapük: stifik Welsh: anhyblyg Welsh: rhyn
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on S Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary