as in strengthens
to make more harsh, uncompromising, or severe
plans to further stiffen the already onerous requirements for admission to the elite military unit
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Recent Examples of stiffens
The schedule stiffens over the final four with Green Bay and Jacksonville at home, a Christmas night game at Kansas City and then Week 18 at home against the Los Angeles Chargers.
—
Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 30 Nov. 2025
The light stiffens and grabs hold of us.
—Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
High-Cholesterol Foods Foods high in cholesterol can negatively affect blood pressure, contributing to atherosclerosis (plaque buildup that narrows and stiffens the arteries).
—Lindsey Desoto, Health, 28 Oct. 2025
In a similar way, a man who is defiant stiffens his neck, squares his shoulders, lowers his brows, and clenches his fists with his knuckles forward.
—Big Think, 23 Sep. 2025
Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 30 Nov. 2025
The light stiffens and grabs hold of us.
—Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
High-Cholesterol Foods Foods high in cholesterol can negatively affect blood pressure, contributing to atherosclerosis (plaque buildup that narrows and stiffens the arteries).
—Lindsey Desoto, Health, 28 Oct. 2025
In a similar way, a man who is defiant stiffens his neck, squares his shoulders, lowers his brows, and clenches his fists with his knuckles forward.
—Big Think, 23 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stiffens
strengthens
Verb
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Buonanotte now strengthens United’s options in the final third and allows Farke to pivot from his five-man defence where necessary.—
Beren Cross,
New York Times,
15 Jan. 2026
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Published on Wednesday in Nature and derived from deeper, more time-consuming JWST observations of a dozen LRDs that split their light into its constituent colors, or spectra, a new study strengthens the case that these objects are, in fact, gigantic, growing black holes.—
Lee Billings,
Scientific American,
14 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Stiffens.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stiffens. Accessed 18 Jan. 2026.
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