stiff
adjective · noun · verb
Simple meaning
Rigid; hard to bend.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
stifIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈstɪf
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
of an object
Rigid; hard to bend; inflexible.
(figurative, of policies and rules and their application and enforcement) Inflexible; rigid.
of muscles or parts of the body
Painful or more rigid than usual as a result of excessive or unaccustomed exercise.
of a person
Formal in behavior; unrelaxed.
Having a dense consistency; thick; (by extension) Difficult to stir.
informal
Dead, deceased.
noun
usslang
A person who leaves (especially a restaurant) without paying the bill.
usslangby extension
A customer who does not leave a tip.
verb
To tip ungenerously.
To fail to pay that which one owes (implicitly or explicitly) to another, especially by departing hastily.
To cheat someone.
informal
To be unsuccessful.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (of an object) Rigid; hard to bend; inflexible.
Used this way, stiff is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It criticises, but without shouting.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Critical but measured
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use stiff
- “My neck feels stiff after sleeping in an awkward position.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The physical property of being inflexible and hard to bend.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Gentian of eastern North America having clusters of bristly blue flowers.
Self-restraint in the expression of emotion (especially fear or grief).
Wiry tufted perennial of the eastern United States with stiff erect rough stems, linear leaves and large violet flowers.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.