stiffly

adverb

Definition of stifflynext
1
as in harshly
in a manner so as to cause loss or suffering stiffly criticized for making such indiscreet comments in public

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in strongly
in a vigorous and forceful manner a stiffly fought battle

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for stiffly
  1. harshly
  2. strongly
  3. severely
  4. vigorously
  5. oppressively
  6. forcibly
  7. firmly
  8. fiercely
Adverb
  • For gaining independence, it was harshly punished financially.
    — Elisa Turner, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2026
  • When student vigils were harshly dealt with by police, the protests became a campaign.
    — Tim Lister, CNN Money, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of harshly
Adverb
  • Blue light can travel farther through water and scatters more strongly from tiny airborne particles.
    — Muskan Bhatia, Interesting Engineering, 30 Oct. 2026
  • Hasegawa said 2025 broke that pattern, with both sides growing strongly.
    — Lin Ying-Hsuan, Variety, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of strongly
Adverb
  • Fetal personhood would also likely eliminate, or at a minimum severely restrict, people who seek to start a family using surrogacy and in vitro fertilization.
    — Jim Defede, Miami Herald, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Torosian had told the prosecutor’s office that an undernourished, severely disabled girl who was receiving treatment at BioMed was subsisting entirely on spinach—on Kotthaus’s orders.
    — D. T. Max, New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of severely
Adverb
  • His views on Europe didn’t always align with the narrative of decline that his MAGA colleagues are pushing so vigorously.
    — Lauren Collins, New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Inside the giant exhibition space, that wearable melting pot was vigorously animated by attendees who had arrived mostly from Japan but also from around the world, all wearing its constituent ingredients in their own particular way.
    — Luke Leitch, Vogue, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of vigorously
Adverb
  • The summer had seen Europe endure an oppressively dry, hot summer, which had seen wildfires spring up across the continent.
    — Anthony Wood, Space.com, 26 Aug. 2026
  • After a bit of a reprieve from an oppressively hot summer, another heat wave is set to scorch Southern California this week.
    — Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of oppressively
Adverb
  • Women are typically forcibly sterilized through hysterectomy, tubal ligation, or endometrial ablation, while men are typically subjected to vasectomy.
    — Frannie Comstock, Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Trump’s yearly average of removing 380,000 migrants forcibly, rather than voluntarily, is lower than Barack Obama’s average of 392,000 annually in his first term.
    — Alec Dent, Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of forcibly
Adverb
  • This is superbrand-level luxury, with an aesthetic firmly rooted in place and space.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Oct. 2026
  • At Culebra, which opened in April below Lonesome Rose, those roots are firmly planted in Puerto Rico.
    — Amy Cavanaugh, Chicago Tribune, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of firmly
Adverb
  • Rooting it very fiercely in a time period felt like the wrong choice.
    — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The first season of Carrie follows misfit high-schooler Carrie White (Howell) who has spent her life hidden away inside the walls of her home with her fiercely protective mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan).
    — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of fiercely
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.

Browse Nearby Words

stiffing
stiffly
stiff-necked
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Stiffly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stiffly. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of satiate

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

Ten More Words from Taylor Swift Songs

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
couple-laugh-cafe
Quiz: Foreign Phrases You Should Know Check out your bona fides and avoid any faux pas.
See All