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Antonyms for stiffness

Grammar : Noun
Spell : stif
Phonetic Transcription : stɪf

Definition of stiffness

Origin :
  • Old English stif "rigid, inflexible," from Proto-Germanic *stifaz "inflexible" (cf. Dutch stijf, Old High German stif, German steif "stiff;" Old Norse stifla "choke"), from PIE *stipos-, from root *steip- "press together, pack, cram" (cf. Sanskrit styayate "coagulates," stima "slow;" Greek stia, stion "small stone," steibo "press together;" Latin stipare "pack down, press," stipes "post, tree trunk;" Lithuanian stipti "stiffen," stiprus "strong;" Old Church Slavonic stena "wall"). Of battles and competitions, from mid-13c.; of liquor, from 1813. To keep a stiff upper lip is attested from 1815.
  • noun inflexibility
Example sentences :
  • In everything that bows gracefully there must be an effort at stiffness.
  • Extract from : « Alarms and Discursions » by G. K. Chesterton
  • She seemed to have smoothed away all the Boston stiffness as she smoothed her dress.
  • Extract from : « One Day's Courtship » by Robert Barr
  • Markest thou not the stiffness wherewith he moves his left leg!'
  • Extract from : « Micah Clarke » by Arthur Conan Doyle
  • Her hair was dazzlingly yellow, and arranged with all the stiffness of the coiffeur's art.
  • Extract from : « The Avenger » by E. Phillips Oppenheim
  • Of straight lines there are many, but of stiffness there is none.
  • Extract from : « Bell's Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury » by H. J. L. J. Mass
  • He was opening and closing his fingers to take the stiffness of the frost out of them.
  • Extract from : « The Highgrader » by William MacLeod Raine
  • Therefore this stiffness in his figure was just the right thing.
  • Extract from : « Letters of Edward FitzGerald » by Edward FitzGerald
  • There was nothing of the stiffness of the model in her attitudes.
  • Extract from : « A Girl of the Commune » by George Alfred Henty
  • There's no stiffness and formality, and all that kind of thing.
  • Extract from : « Miss Mackenzie » by Anthony Trollope
  • In general his stiffness was insular, his pre-occupation profound.
  • Extract from : « William Pitt and the Great War » by John Holland Rose

Synonyms for stiffness

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019