stiff – English adjective declension

English adjective forms of stiff

Adjective: stiff

Comparison Forms

Synthetic

Comparativestiffer
Superlativestiffest

Perifrastic

Sample Sentences

  • “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;[…]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache. [1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:]
  • You have discovered the corpse of Captain Willem of the MSV Majesty. His stiff fingers are wrapped tightly around a small datapad. [2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Xawin:]
  • He was eventually caught, and given a stiff fine.
  • “Yes. I believe she has passed quite a stiff exam.” [1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 124:]
  • To fit them for heavy loads on gradients as stiff as 1 in 45 in tropical conditions, these Class 90 diesels embody several unusual features, [...]. [1961 February, “New English Electric diesels for East Africa”, in Trains Illustrated, page 90:]
  • My legs are stiff after climbing that hill yesterday.
  • a stiff drink; a stiff dose; a stiff breeze
  • [Badminton] was popular in India because of the climate, where it was played outdoors, but in England the stiff breezes made it impossible to play without heavily loaded shuttlecocks. [1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 134:]
  • In the end, perhaps these deflections are easier than confronting the reality and debunking some of the less helpful stories a certain section of England likes to tell about itself. Much easier to just order another stiff one, and raise the old toast: “My country, right or wrong!” [2023 July 4, Marina Hyde, “Who’s for political Bazball with Rishi? Voters? Tories? Anyone?”, in The Guardian:]
  • He had the practised face of a dealer also. But he was a Jew and chaffering was in his blood, and he said, "A bit stiff, isn't it? I mean without a guarantee that it's by the original maker?" [1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 158:]
  • Adieu! faint-hearted instrument of lust; / That falselie hath betrayde our equale trust. / Hence-forth no more will I implore thine ayde, / Or thee, or man of cowardize upbrayde. / My little dilldo shall suply their kinde: / A knaue, that moues as light as leaues by winde; / That bendeth not, nor fouldeth anie deale, / But stands as stiff as he were made of steele; / And playes at peacock twixt my leggs right blythe, / And doeth my tickling swage with manie a sighe. / For, by saint Runnion! he'le refresh me well; / And neuer make my tender bellie swell. [c. 1592–1593 (date written), Thomas Nash[e], “The Choosing of Valentines”, in John S[tephen] Farmer, editor, The Choise of Valentines: Or The Merie Ballad of Nash His Dildo […], London: Privately printed for subscribers only, published 1899, →OCLC, pages 18–19, lines 233–244:]
  • Adding too much peanut butter to your Peanut Sauce recipe may cause your sauce to turn out too stiff.
  • beat the egg whites until they are stiff
  • I go all out, go for the long ball, the stiff shots to the pin, aim for the back of the cup. [1968, William Price Fox, Southern Fried Plus Six: Short Works of Fiction, page 219:]

Adjectives inflected like stiff

sallow, smooth, slight, sleigh, sordid, somber, shweet, shrill, shrewd, yellow, yaller, hard knock, DRY, Greek, cut short, unquiet, unclean, indiscreet, chipper, straicht, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)

Etymology

1. Etymology tree
2. Proto-Indo-European *steyp
3. Proto-Germanic *stīfaz
4. Proto-West Germanic *stīf
5. Old English stīf
6. Middle English stif
7. English stiff
8. From Middle English stiff, stiffe, stif, from Old English stīf, from Proto-West Germanic *stīf, from Proto-Germanic *stīfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *steypós.
9. See also West Frisian stiif, Dutch stijf, Norwegian Bokmål stiv, German steif; also Latin stīpes, stīpō, from which English stevedore.
10. The expected Modern English form would be /staɪf/; /stɪf/ is probably originally from compounds such as stiffly, where the vowel was shortened before a consonant cluster. See: Dutch Adjectives 'stijf', German Adjectives 'steif'.

Verbs referencing "stiff"

Latin Adjectives stipulus.