1
2
as in guys
a member of the human race
one lucky stiff will get the biggest jackpot in the lottery's history
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in isolates
to deliberately ignore or treat rudely
the actress has a reputation for stiffing the press at red-carpet events
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in hustles
to rob by the use of trickery or threats
customers who were too embarrassed to admit that they had been stiffed by an Internet company claiming to sell designer handbags
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of stiffs
Wengel Gemu, Vanity Fair, 15 Jan. 2026
After one of his clients stiffs him, Veneno runs into Muñeco (Osvaldo Sanchez), a trucker in his 40s who spends long weeks away from his estranged family, drinking and doing drugs to stay awake on the job.
—Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 6 Sep. 2025
Noun
Marty Supreme is stuffed with street kids, working stiffs, midcentury aristocrats, and world-class athletes, all clad in crisp, period-accurate garb.
—Wengel Gemu, Vanity Fair, 15 Jan. 2026
After one of his clients stiffs him, Veneno runs into Muñeco (Osvaldo Sanchez), a trucker in his 40s who spends long weeks away from his estranged family, drinking and doing drugs to stay awake on the job.
—Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 6 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stiffs
Noun
-
When the mouths of wolves fall open, a script of corpses march.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
-
His family spent an agonizing week searching through morgues, hospitals and detention facilities before finally identifying his body among piles of corpses, also shown in the viral footage.—
Emma Bussey,
FOXNews.com,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
And what’s really interesting is not only does Hemingway cite the Spanish American War writers as an inspiration, but some famous literary, Hard Boiled writers like James and Kane cite those guys as their inspirations.—
Fiction Non Fiction,
Literary Hub,
29 Jan. 2026
-
It’s trickled down to the regular professional player, to guys ranked 40 or 50 in the world.—
Patrick McEnroe,
New York Times,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Power Without Corruption Mission has used a high-quality and ultra-low-noise toroidal transformer for 778CDT’s internal power architecture, which isolates critical pathways.—
Mark Sparrow,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
-
Resentment brews in Agnes while Will isolates himself in London, trying to deal with his loss.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
22 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Most notably, watch here as backup center Oso Ighodaro shuts down Jalen Brunson’s final attempt to tie the score, then Grayson Allen deflects his pass, hustles into the backcourt and banks it off Mikal Bridges’ face and out of bounds.—
John Hollinger,
New York Times,
13 Jan. 2026
-
The pair goes out and hustles other players with a cunning ruse that relies on the era’s racial and ethnic divisions.—
Jeff Ihaza,
Rolling Stone,
29 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Notably, a 2025 study published in Nature Communications observed that baleen whale migration (including gray whales) facilitates the transportation of essential nutrients — from their placenta, carcasses and even their urea — between polar feeding grounds and tropical breeding areas.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
-
Besides being in the right environment, the carcasses also have to avoid becoming a snack for hungry scavengers like birds and hyenas.—
Adithi Ramakrishnan,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Videos that have come out of Iran via Starlink satellite dishes and other means show men likely belonging to its forces shooting and beating protesters.—
SAM McNEIL AND JON GAMBRELL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS,
Arkansas Online,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Mike doesn’t know it yet but his life is about to become tied up with that of Lou (Mark Ruffalo), the old-school, Columbo-style cop on his trail, and Sharon (Halle Berry), an insurance broker with connections to some of the richest men in the world.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Hemingway rejects the idea that one thing can explain another.—
Akhil Sharma,
New Yorker,
28 Jan. 2026
-
Kaiser flatly rejects the notion that the strike is about anything other than reimbursement.—
Paul Sisson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Blashill wants the Blackhawks to be a fast-pressure team at both ends of the rink, one that attacks vertically but never cheats for offense.—
Mark Lazerus,
New York Times,
2 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Stiffs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stiffs. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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