STIFFNESS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Stiffness

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/stˈɪfnəs/ Listen

Stiffness

noun

The physical property of being inflexible and hard to bend.

The property of moving with pain or difficulty.

Firm resoluteness in purpose or opinion or action.

The inelegance of someone stiff and unrelaxed (as by embarrassment). Synonyms: awkwardness, clumsiness, gracelessness.

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

... have seen her safe under the reawakening influence of an old, only half-forgotten friendship; and Nicholson, too, felt dimly that a cunning and none too scrupulous hand had shattered a secret hope that he had cherished from his first year in India. Altogether, there was a stiffness between them which the world was quick to recognize without understanding. But Beatrice had made her observations, and, as it has been said, had come to a definite conclusion. Her interest in Lois was now thoroughly aroused, and the vision of ...

— The Native Born - or, The Rajah's People • I. A. R. Wylie

... Lavendar," the Captain said, with sudden stiffness; "he's like all the rest of 'em. I'll get a license in Upper Chester, and we'll ...

— Quaint Courtships • Howells & Alden, Editors

... it on the lips of Socrates, and virtue in the life of Phocion. It is well known that the Romans had to exhaust their energies in civil wars, and, corrupted by Oriental luxury, to bow their heads under the yoke of a fortunate despot, before Grecian art triumphed over the stiffness of their character. The same was the case with the Arabs: civilization only dawned upon them when the vigor of their military spirit became softened under the sceptre of the Abbassides. Art did not appear in modern Italy till the glorious Lombard League was ...

— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller

... was allowed to remain on board the corvette. He kept likewise that worthy, Tacon, as he felt sure that if he did not he should never seen him again. Colonel Armytage behaved much more courteously to Ronald than he had formerly done, but still there was more stiffness in his manner than was pleasant; and in his presence his wife and daughter appeared restrained and uneasy, as if he had laid injunctions on them which they would ...

— Ronald Morton, or the Fire Ships - A Story of the Last Naval War • W.H.G. Kingston

... pleased." Possibly Mrs. Carstairs had noted the stiffness of his speech, and in her languid way desired to soothe his feelings. "I forget if you have seen my little daughter. I must introduce you to her—and——" she turned to the young girl who stood by and laid a hand on her arm—"to ...

— Afterwards • Kathlyn Rhodes

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