as in stiff
incapable of or highly resistant to bending
stiffened corpses an old-fashioned dress with a stiffened lace collar
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in strengthened
to make more harsh, uncompromising, or severe
plans to further stiffen the already onerous requirements for admission to the elite military unit
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of stiffened
Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 12 June 2026
The moose flinched and stiffened.
—Fred Bear, Outdoor Life, 11 June 2026
His eyes locked to the right, his tiny body stiffened and his face turned red.
—Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 19 May 2026
There was a sudden spring shower, which stiffened into rain.
—Sam Knight, New Yorker, 14 May 2026
The journey of King Charles and the Queen consort had been planned for some time, well before relations between the United Kingdom and the United States stiffened due to international tensions, compounded by the assassination attempt on Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
—Giorgia Olivieri, Vanity Fair, 28 Apr. 2026
June stiffened, a pillar of ice.
—Meredith Maran, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2026
Officials this year have increased restrictions on flying drones and stiffened the penalties for their unauthorized use—including jail time.
—Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 6 Apr. 2026
The nail seemed to have expanded and warped and stiffened.
—Kate Crane, Rolling Stone, 2 Apr. 2026
Verb
Nicks on the edge or stiffened, curled rubber will leave streaks.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 12 June 2026
The moose flinched and stiffened.
—Fred Bear, Outdoor Life, 11 June 2026
His eyes locked to the right, his tiny body stiffened and his face turned red.
—Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 19 May 2026
There was a sudden spring shower, which stiffened into rain.
—Sam Knight, New Yorker, 14 May 2026
The journey of King Charles and the Queen consort had been planned for some time, well before relations between the United Kingdom and the United States stiffened due to international tensions, compounded by the assassination attempt on Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
—Giorgia Olivieri, Vanity Fair, 28 Apr. 2026
June stiffened, a pillar of ice.
—Meredith Maran, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2026
Officials this year have increased restrictions on flying drones and stiffened the penalties for their unauthorized use—including jail time.
—Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 6 Apr. 2026
The nail seemed to have expanded and warped and stiffened.
—Kate Crane, Rolling Stone, 2 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stiffened
Adjective
-
The company also faces stiff competition from Anthropic and OpenAI, whose chatbots have been more widely adopted by consumers and enterprise customers than xAI’s Grok.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
12 June 2026
-
With every wear, the stiff leather softens while the cork and latex footbed molds to your feet to create custom support.—
Sophie Dodd,
Travel + Leisure,
12 June 2026
Verb
-
Zelenskyy also informed Trump about how Ukraine's position along the eastern front line has improved and strengthened.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
14 June 2026
-
Recent policy developments have further strengthened California’s position in the emerging fusion sector.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
13 June 2026
Adjective
-
Boxy, Straight-Lined Furniture Sharp angles and rigid silhouettes once defined contemporary interiors, but designers are increasingly embracing softer forms.—
Angelika Pokovba,
Martha Stewart,
14 June 2026
-
Accessories made of rigid leather can provide a nice contrast to the dress's sheerness.—
Kevin Huynh,
InStyle,
14 June 2026
Adjective
-
But Cape Verde simply did not wilt in a solid, switched-on 4-5-1 defensive shape, compressing space between the lines and defending heroically in their own penalty area to keep the European Champions at bay, and committing only one foul in the process — the fewest ever recorded in a World Cup game.—
Thom Harris,
New York Times,
16 June 2026
-
On the subject of speculative energy, galleries spoke about how Tuesday’s consistent, solid sales rhythm seemed a lot healthier in that regard.—
Devorah Lauter,
ARTnews.com,
16 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Stiffened.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stiffened. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
