Definitions
Rigidity, lack of flexibility, or formal severity.
Word origin
From Middle English stiffenes, styffenesse, styfnesse; equivalent to stiff + -ness. Perhaps merging with Middle English stithnesse, stithnysse, from Old English stīþness (“stiffness”).
Used in a sentence
“His stiffness hampered the conversation.”
“Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.”
“After years when I met a friend inside the aircraft and could sense stiffness in the conversation, a whiff of mild slang was the ice breaker, followed by loads of campus nostalgia.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer2 curated clues
01“Lack of flexibility”9 letters
02“Rigidity”9 letters
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