stiff
(Informal)
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- inflexible, firm, hard, inelastic, rigid, solid, taut, tense, tight, unbending, unyielding
- awkward, clumsy, graceless, inelegant, jerky (informal), ungainly, ungraceful
- difficult, arduous, exacting, hard, tough
- severe, drastic, extreme, hard, harsh, heavy, strict
- unrelaxed, constrained, forced, formal, stilted, unnatural

---

Antonyms: flexible, flexile
Contrasted words: soft, softened, yielding, bendable, pliable, pliant, limber, supple, willowy, expressive, graphic, vivid, easy, fluent, graceful, smooth
Related Idioms: stiff as a board (or poker)
Related Words: stiffish, hard, resistant, hardened, petrified, stark, rigid, set, studied, machine-made, mechanical, stereotyped, stock, arid, dry, dull

---

English Thesaurus: hard, firm, stiff, solid, rigid, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. stiff¹ S3 /stɪf/ adjective (comparative stiffer, superlative stiffest)
[Word Family: noun: stiffness, stiff; adverb: stiff, stiffly; verb: stiffen; adjective: stiff]
[Language: Old English; Origin: stif]

1. BODY if someone or a part of their body is stiff, their muscles hurt and it is difficult for them to move
stiff from doing something
Her legs were stiff from kneeling.
stiff with
Her fingers were stiff with cold.
stiff neck/back/joint etc
Alastair woke with a stiff neck.
I never felt stiff after training until I was in my thirties.
The next morning I was as stiff as a board (=very stiff).

2. MATERIAL/SUBSTANCE firm, hard, or difficult to bend:
a shirt with a stiff collar

3. MIXTURE a stiff mixture is thick and almost solid, so that it is not easy to mix:
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
a stiff dough

4. DIFFICULT difficult to do or deal with:
a stiff test
stiff competition/opposition
Graduates face stiff competition in getting jobs.

5. SEVERE a stiff punishment is great or severe
stiff sentence/penalty/fine
calls for stiffer penalties for rapists

6. DOOR/DRAWER ETC British English difficult to move, turn, or open:
Pull hard – that drawer’s very stiff.

7. UNFRIENDLY if someone’s behaviour is stiff, they behave in a very formal or unfriendly way:
Their goodbyes were stiff and formal.
Parsons gave a stiff performance in the main role.

8. PRICE a stiff price etc is high, especially higher than the price etc of similar things:
a stiff tax on cigarettes

9. stiff wind/breeze a fairly strong wind etc

10. stiff drink/whisky etc a very strong alcoholic drink

11. stiff upper lip the ability to stay calm and not show your feelings in a difficult or upsetting situation:
Men were taught to keep a stiff upper lip.
—stiffly adverb
—stiffness noun [uncountable]

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. stiff² adverb
[Word Family: noun: stiffness, stiff; adverb: stiff, stiffly; verb: stiffen; adjective: stiff]

1. bored/scared/worried stiff informal extremely bored, frightened, or worried:
As a child, I was scared stiff of going down to the cellar.

2. frozen stiff
a) extremely cold:
Goodness, your hands are frozen stiff!
b) cloth that is frozen stiff is hard because the water in it has frozen

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

III. stiff³ noun [countable] informal
[Word Family: noun: stiffness, stiff; adverb: stiff, stiffly; verb: stiffen; adjective: stiff]

1. the body of a dead person

2. working stiff American English an ordinary person who works to earn enough money to live

3. someone who you think is old-fashioned and too formal:
His business tactics outraged the stiffs of the UK establishment.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

IV. stiff⁴ verb informal

1. [transitive] American English to cheat someone by not paying them, especially by not leaving a tip in a restaurant:
I can’t believe that couple stiffed me!

2. [intransitive] if a new product, film, show etc stiffs, it does not sell well or fails completely Synonym : bomb:
They had a hit in the 1990s, but their subsequent releases stiffed.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

stiff
adj.
I. difficult to bend/move
VERBS be, feel, lie, look, sit, stand She lay stiff and still beside him.
become, get, go My trousers were getting stiff with mud. My fingers had gone stiff with cold.
ADV. very | a bit, fairly, quite, rather
PREP. with The clothes were stiff with dust and grease.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

stiff
II. having sore muscles
VERBS be, feel He felt stiff all over.
become, get, go You'll get stiff if you don't have a hot bath.
leave sb, make sb All that digging made me really stiff.
ADV. really, very | all My arm's gone all stiff.
a bit, a little, rather
PREP. from stiff from kneeling

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

stiff
III. strong/severe
VERBS be, seem Their punishment seemed rather stiff.
ADV. very in the face of some very stiff competition
a bit, fairly, quite, rather

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

stiff
IV. not friendly or relaxed
VERBS be, look, seem, sound She was aware that her words sounded stiff.
become
ADV. very | a bit, a little, rather, slightly, somewhat His manner seemed rather stiff and impersonal.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

hard difficult to press down, break, or cut, and not at all soft:
I fell onto the hard stone floor.
The clay gets harder as it dries.
firm not completely hard, but not easy to press or bend – used especially when this seems a good thing:
I like to sleep on a firm mattress.
exercises to make your stomach muscles nice and firm
The pears were firm and juicy.
stiff difficult to bend and not changing shape:
a piece of stiff cardboard
The collar of his shirt felt stiff and uncomfortable.
solid made of a thick hard material and not hollow:
a solid oak door
The floor felt strong and solid beneath her feet.
rigid /ˈrɪdʒəd, ˈrɪdʒɪd/ having a structure that is made of a material that is difficult or impossible to bend:
The tent is supported by a rigid frame.
Carry sandwiches in a rigid container.
crisp/crispy used about food that is pleasantly hard, so that it makes a noise when you bite it – often used about things that have been cooked in thin slices until they are brown:
Bake the cookies until they are crisp and golden.
crispy bacon
crunchy food that is crunchy makes a noise when you bite on it – often used about things that are fresh, for example fruit, vegetables, and nuts:
a crunchy breakfast cereal
The carrots were still nice and crunchy.
a crunchy salad
crunchy peanut butter
tough meat that is tough is too hard and is difficult to cut or eat:
The meat was tough and flavourless.
rubbery too hard and bending like rubber rather than breaking – used especially about meat:
The chicken was all rubbery.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

painful used for describing a part of the body that hurts:
Her leg is still painful where she broke it.
painful joints
She was suffering from painful stomach cramps.
tender painful when touched:
The skin around the wound is very tender.
stiff painful and difficult to move:
I’ve got a stiff neck.
Her body was stiff from sitting in the car for so long.
sore painful as a result of a wound, infection, or too much exercise:
sore muscles
a sore throat
The wound was sore and red.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

stiff
stɪf
See: keep a stiff upper lip , scare out of one's wits or scare stiff

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲