English noun: stiffness | |||
1. | stiffness (attribute) the physical property of being inflexible and hard to bend | ||
Broader (hypernym) | inelasticity | ||
2. | stiffness (attribute) the property of moving with pain or difficulty | ||
Samples | He awoke with a painful stiffness in his neck. | ||
Broader (hypernym) | awkwardness, clumsiness | ||
3. | stiffness (attribute) firm resoluteness in purpose or opinion or action | ||
Samples | A charming host without any touch of stiffness or pomposity. | ||
Broader (hypernym) | firmness, firmness of purpose, resoluteness, resolution, resolve | ||
4. | stiffness (attribute) the inelegance of someone stiff and unrelaxed (as by embarrassment) | ||
Synonyms | awkwardness, clumsiness, gracelessness | ||
Broader (hypernym) | inelegance | ||
Narrower (hyponym) | gaucherie, rusticity, woodenness | ||
5. | stiffness (attribute) excessive sternness | ||
Samples | Severity of character. The harshness of his punishment was inhuman. The rigors of boot camp. | ||
Synonyms | hardness, harshness, inclemency, rigor, rigorousness, rigour, rigourousness, severeness, severity | ||
Broader (hypernym) | sternness, strictness | ||