stiff

stiff
adj.
1 difficult to bend/move
VERBS
be, feel, lie, look, sit, stand

She lay stiff and still beside him.

become, get, go

My fingers had gone stiff with cold.

ADVERB
extremely, fairly, very, etc.
a little, slightly, etc.
all
PREPOSITION
with

The clothes were stiff with dust and grease.

PHRASES
(as) stiff as a board

The captain stood as stiff as a board.

2 having sore muscles
VERBS
be, feel

He felt stiff all over.

get

You'll get stiff if you don't have a hot bath.

leave sb, make sb

All that digging made me really stiff.

ADVERB
extremely, fairly, very, etc.
a little, slightly, etc.
all

My arm's gone all stiff.

PREPOSITION
from

I was stiff from kneeling.

3 strong/severe
VERBS
be, seem

Their punishment seemed rather stiff.

ADVERB
extremely, fairly, very, etc.

in the face of some very stiff competition

a little, slightly, etc.
4 not friendly or relaxed
VERBS
be, look, seem, sound

She was aware that her words sounded stiff.

ADVERB
extremely, fairly, very, etc.

His manner seemed rather stiff and impersonal.

a little, slightly, etc.
Stiff is used with these nouns: ↑back, ↑bow, ↑brandy, ↑breeze, ↑broom, ↑brush, ↑cardboard, ↑challenge, ↑collar, ↑competition, ↑drink, ↑fine, ↑formality, ↑gin, ↑joint, ↑knee, ↑leg, ↑limb, ↑muscle, ↑neck, ↑opposition, ↑paste, ↑penalty, ↑posture, ↑resistance, ↑sentence, ↑task, ↑test, ↑whisky, ↑wind, ↑wire

Collocations dictionary. 2013.

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Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • stiff´ly — stiff «stihf», adjective, adverb, noun, verb. –adj. 1. not easily bent; fixed; rigid: »a stiff brush. He wore a stiff collar. 2. hard to move: »a stiff gear. The old hinges on the barn door are stiff. 3. not able to move easily: »a stiff neck.… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Stiff — Stiff, a. [Compar. {Stiffer}; superl. {Stiffest}.] [OE. stif, AS. st[=i]f; akin to D. stijf, G. steif, Dan. stiv, Sw. styf, Icel. st[=i]fr, Lith. stipti to be stiff; cf. L. stipes a post, trunk of a tree, stipare to press, compress. Cf. {Costive} …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Stiff — may refer to:*Stiffness, a material s resistance to bending *Stiff differential equation, an equation that exhibits behaviour at two widely different scales (the differential equations describing stiff materials are stiff differential equations)… …   Wikipedia

  • stiff — [stɪf] verb [transitive] informal to not pay someone money that you owe them or that they expect to be given, for example by not leaving a tip in a restaurant see also working stiff * * * Ⅰ. stiff UK US /stɪf/ adjective ► …   Financial and business terms

  • stiff — [stif] adj. [ME stif < OE, akin to Ger steif < IE * stip , a pole, stick together (var. of base * steib(h) , rod) > L stipes, stem, stake, log, stipare, to crowd, cram] 1. hard to bend or stretch; rigid; firm; not flexible or pliant 2.… …   English World dictionary

  • Stiff — bezeichnet: Stiff Records, ein britisches Independent Label Stiff Little Fingers, eine Punkband aus Belfast Stiff man Syndrom, eine neurologische Krankheit Stiff Upper Lip, ein Albumtitel von AC/DC Stiff ist der Familienname folgender Person:… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • stiff — stiff; stiff·en; stiff·en·er; stiff·ish; stiff·ly; stiff·ness; …   English syllables

  • stiff — [adj1] hard, inflexible annealed, arthritic, benumbed, brittle, buckram, cemented, chilled, congealed, contracted, creaky, firm, fixed, frozen, graceless, hardened, immalleable, impliable, incompliant, indurate, inelastic, jelled, mechanical,… …   New thesaurus

  • stiff — ► ADJECTIVE 1) not easily bent; rigid. 2) not moving freely; difficult to turn or operate. 3) unable to move easily and without pain. 4) not relaxed or friendly; constrained. 5) severe or strong: stiff fines. 6) (stiff with) informal full of …   English terms dictionary

  • stiff´en|er — stiff|en «STIHF uhn», transitive verb. to make stiff or stiffer: »She stiffened the shirt with starch. –v.i. to become stiff or stiffer: »The jelly will stiffen as it cools. The wind was stiffening as the storm approached. Figurative. He… …   Useful english dictionary

  • stiff|en — «STIHF uhn», transitive verb. to make stiff or stiffer: »She stiffened the shirt with starch. –v.i. to become stiff or stiffer: »The jelly will stiffen as it cools. The wind was stiffening as the storm approached. Figurative. He stiffened with… …   Useful english dictionary

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