Join free

stiffness

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

stiffness

Where it comes from

From Middle English stiffenes, styffenesse, styfnesse; equivalent to stiff + -ness. Perhaps merging with Middle English stithnesse, stithnysse, from Old English stīþness (“stiffness”).

noun stiffnesses

  1. countable, uncountable Rigidity or a measure of rigidity.
  2. countable, uncountable Inflexibility or a measure of inflexibility.
  3. countable, uncountable Inelegance; a lack of relaxedness. His stiffness hampered the conversation.
  4. countable, uncountable Muscular tension due to unaccustomed or excessive exercise or work; soreness. Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), often referred to by doctors today as juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), is a type of arthritis that causes joint inflammation and stiffness for more than six weeks in a child aged 16 or younger. It affects approximately 50,000 children in the United States. In

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: hardness, severity, harshness, awkwardness, clumsiness, inclemency, gracelessness, rigid, strictness, rigor, rigidity, inflexibility, strength, tightness, resistance, inflexible

Translations

Every language

noun rigidity

Españolrigidez
Portuguêsrigidez
Françaisrigidité, raideur
DeutschErstarrung, Starre, Steife, Steifigkeit, Steifheit
Italianorigidezza, rigidità
Русскийжёсткость žóstkostʹ

noun inflexibility

Españolrigidez, inflexibilidad
Portuguêsrigidez
Françaisinflexibilité
Italianoinflessibilità

noun inelegance; lack of relaxedness

Françaisraideur
Русскийчо́порность čópornostʹ

noun muscular tension

Españolagujetas

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"stiffness." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/stiffness. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

stiffness. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/stiffness

Chicago

"stiffness." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/stiffness.

BibTeX
@misc{stiffness_2026,
  title = {stiffness},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/stiffness},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}