as in conservative
a person with old-fashioned ideas
the committee is dominated by old stick-in-the-muds who have little interest in bringing new ideas to the table
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Recent Examples of stick-in-the-mud
One only has to think about the British fight against Nazism to be reminded that it was made of imperialists, constitutionalists, stick-in-the-mud aristocrats, and the socialists who first helped put Winston Churchill into power and then five years later helped push him out again.
—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
8 June 2026
But opposing him is Stagg, a Scottish, stick-in-the-mud academic (which is saying a lot by most weather men’s personality standards), who insists on making the team’s joint recommendation exclusively using the current observational data available to Allied forces.
—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
26 May 2026
Bostwick starred as the naive stick-in-the-mud and fiancé of Janice, Brad.
—
Skyler Trepel,
PEOPLE,
31 Oct. 2025
David Corenswet plays, quite literally, a stick-in-the-mud character.
—
Brian Davids,
The Hollywood Reporter,
3 Sep. 2019
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
8 June 2026
But opposing him is Stagg, a Scottish, stick-in-the-mud academic (which is saying a lot by most weather men’s personality standards), who insists on making the team’s joint recommendation exclusively using the current observational data available to Allied forces.
—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
26 May 2026
Bostwick starred as the naive stick-in-the-mud and fiancé of Janice, Brad.
—
Skyler Trepel,
PEOPLE,
31 Oct. 2025
David Corenswet plays, quite literally, a stick-in-the-mud character.
—
Brian Davids,
The Hollywood Reporter,
3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stick-in-the-mud
Noun
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Vermeule—a former clerk for Scalia—proposes that conservatives should read the Constitution’s ambiguous phrases and general structure in an openly moral way, drawing on principles grounded in the nature and purposes of government.
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In her final opinion as a Supreme Court justice in 2005, Sandra Day O’Connor – a judicial conservative – reflected on the importance of church-state separation to guarantee full religious freedom.
Noun
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And a quieter sky genuinely matters to veterans with PTSD, to parents of sensory-sensitive kids, and to every dog that spends the Fourth wedged under a bed.
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Condrey is a writer, veteran and formerly homeless resident of San Diego.
Noun
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There’s no old fogey-ness to Lorne.
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For the benefit of us old fogies?
Noun
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Working with the British Antarctic Survey, Thomson was mapping the area's rock layers and collected marine reptile fossils to help with future dating efforts.
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Trends in recent decades point to an overall warming of average temperatures in winter as well as fall, spring and summer, from human activities such as fossil-fuel burning that release heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.
Cite this Entry
“Stick-in-the-mud.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stick-in-the-mud. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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