stiffness
English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]From Middle English stiffenes, styffenesse, styfnesse; equivalent to stiff + -ness. Perhaps merging with Middle English stithnesse, stithnysse, from Old English stīþness (“stiffness”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
[edit]stiffness (countable and uncountable, plural stiffnesses)
- Rigidity or a measure of rigidity.
- Inflexibility or a measure of inflexibility.
- Inelegance; a lack of relaxedness.
- His stiffness hampered the conversation.
- 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations[1]:
- Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
- 2021 September 3, Charudutta Panigrahi, “The Intimacy Of Slangs”, in Odisha News[2]:
- After years when I met a friend inside the aircraft and could sense stiffness in the conversation, a whiff of mild slang was the ice breaker, followed by loads of campus nostalgia.
- Muscular tension due to unaccustomed or excessive exercise or work; soreness.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]rigidity
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inflexibility
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inelegance; lack of relaxedness
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muscular tension
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms suffixed with -ness
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Physical quantities