stiffness
Rigidity or a measure of rigidityRigidity or a measure of rigidity.
Recorded UK: Speaker: Vealhurl Recorder: Vealhurl, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
» She stretched to relieve the stiffness in her back.
Chrikaru · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
4 senses(countable, uncountable)Rigidity or a measure of rigidity.
Erstarrung, Starre, Steife
жёсткостьžóstkostʹ
(countable, uncountable)Inflexibility or a measure of inflexibility.
(countable, uncountable)Inelegance; a lack of relaxedness.
His stiffness hampered the conversation.
чо́порностьčópornostʹ
the inelegance of someone stiff and unrelaxed (as by embarrassment)
(countable, uncountable)Muscular tension due to unaccustomed or excessive exercise or work; soreness.
Examples
5 sentencesShe stretched to relieve the stiffness in her back.
You need a parameter to capture the stiffness of the metal.
deEs ist ein Parameter für die Steifigkeit des Metalls nötig. — Yorwba
Have you recently felt any unexplained pain or stiffness in your neck?
One of the effects of progressive muscle diseases like cerebral palsy is muscle stiffness.
Tom felt the stiffness in his joints as he stood up after sitting in the same position for a long time.
Translations
7 languagesBy meaning 2
By meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English stiffenes, styffenesse, styfnesse; equivalent to stiff + -ness. PerhapFrom Middle English stiffenes, styffenesse, styfnesse; equivalent to stiff + -ness. Perhaps merging with Middle English stithnesse, stithnysse, from Old English stīþness (“stiffness”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: stiffnesses| Singular | stiffness |
|---|---|
| Plural | stiffnesses |
regular
Synonyms
12 synonyms- the inelegance of someone stiff and unrelaxed (as by embarrassment):awkwardnessclumsinessgracelessness
- excessive sternness:severityseverenessharshnessrigorrigourrigorousnessrigourousnessinclemency
Word family
2 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.