variants or less commonly stoney
stonier; stoniest
1
: abounding in or having the nature of stone : rocky
2
a
: insensitive to pity or human feeling : obdurate
b
: manifesting no movement or reaction : dumb, expressionless
c
: fearfully gripping : petrifying
3
archaic : consisting of or made of stones
4
British : stone broke
stonily adverb
stoniness noun

Examples of stony in a Sentence

She gave him a stony stare. the judge's stony demeanor didn't raise the defendant's hopes for a more lenient sentence
Recent Examples on the Web His face remains stony as his eyes dart from one corner to the other. Seyward Darby, Longreads, 14 Feb. 2024 Scientists believe rising sea temps have driven the increasing impacts from invasive smothering algae and helped spread coral-damaging diseases, from black-band and white-band disease to white plague and stony coral disease. Alie Skowronski, Sun Sentinel, 11 Jan. 2024 Draped with hanging vines, pierced with sunlight beams from openings to the sky, and hushed with stony silence, these natural wonders are a must-visit in Tulum. Meagan Drillinger, Travel + Leisure, 3 Mar. 2024 This remarkably romantic walled town is a stony museum of Byzantine, Ottoman, and Venetian history dating back to the 13th century. Rick Steves, Chicago Tribune, 30 Jan. 2024 An obviously distressed grandmother and several other elderly relatives were struggling to walk on the stony and uneven paths. Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 18 Jan. 2024 It is built up of a stony coral that is usually found 656 to 3,280 feet below the surface where the temperature averages a chilly 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 18 Jan. 2024 Belichick was notoriously stony and hard-driving, with a conservative play-calling approach; Saban was dynamic and fiery. Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2024 As Koy cracked his joke, the camera panned to Swift, who showed a stony expression and took a determined sip from her champagne glass. Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 8 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stony.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of stony was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near stony

Cite this Entry

“Stony.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stony. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

stony

adjective
variants also stoney
stonier; stoniest
1
a
: full of stones
stony soil
b
: hard as stone
a stony seed
2
: pitiless, unfeeling
a stony stare
stonily adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on stony

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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