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Definition of Stiff

Stiff

  1. Not easily bent; not flexible or pliant; not limber or flaccid; rigid; firm; as, stiff wood, paper, joints.
  2. Not liquid or fluid; thick and tenacious; inspissated; neither soft nor hard; as, the paste is stiff.
  3. Firm; strong; violent; difficult to oppose; as, a stiff gale or breeze.
  4. Not easily subdued; unyielding; stubborn; obstinate; pertinacious; as, a stiff adversary.
  5. Not natural and easy; formal; constrained; affected; starched; as, stiff behavior; a stiff style.
  6. Harsh; disagreeable; severe; hard to bear.
  7. Bearing a press of canvas without careening much; as, a stiff vessel; -- opposed to crank.
  8. Very large, strong, or costly; powerful; as, a stiff charge; a stiff price.

Stiff Quotations

A stiff apology is a second insult... The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

Trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement. Discouragement has a germ of its own, as different from trouble as arthritis is different from a stiff joint.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

At 35, I'm definitely starting to feel more like a grown-up than I ever have. There's nothing in my life that is childish or whimsical. Having fun is fantastic and I never want to lose a sense of that - and also, I think, you have to have that to put into your work or else it's going to feel stiff.
Drew Barrymore

And so I was very grateful that I didn't do the British stiff upper lip, but I went straight to a therapist. And she was wonderful and helpful, and I went for about two years.
Lynn Redgrave

Ireland sober is Ireland stiff.
James Joyce
More "Stiff" Quotations

Stiff Translations

stiff in Danish is stiv
stiff in Dutch is afgemeten, plechtig, ceremonieel
stiff in Finnish is kankea
stiff in French is rigide, gourd
stiff in German is steif, starr, hart
stiff in Italian is rigido
stiff in Portuguese is duro
stiff in Spanish is rigido, tieso
stiff in Swedish is styv, stel, stram

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