stick-in-the-mud

noun

: one who is slow, old-fashioned, or unprogressive
especially : an old fogy

Examples of stick-in-the-mud in a Sentence

the committee is dominated by old stick-in-the-muds who have little interest in bringing new ideas to the table
Recent Examples on the Web David Corenswet plays, quite literally, a stick-in-the-mud character. Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019 In the Herbert Ross film, Bacon played big-city teen Ren McCormack, who moves to the small town of Bomont, where its stick-in-the-mud local minster, the Rev. Shaw Moore (John Lithgow), has instituted a ban on dancing. EW.com, 9 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stick-in-the-mud.' 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

1832, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of stick-in-the-mud was in 1832

Dictionary Entries Near stick-in-the-mud

Cite this Entry

“Stick-in-the-mud.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stick-in-the-mud. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

stick-in-the-mud

noun
ˈstik-ən-t͟hə-ˌməd
: one who is slow, old-fashioned, or unprogressive
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!