What's the difference between inflexible and stiff?

Inflexible


Definition:

  • (a.) Not capable of being bent; stiff; rigid; firm; unyielding.
  • (a.) Firm in will or purpose; not to be turned, changed, or altered; resolute; determined; unyieding; inexorable; stubborn.
  • (a.) Incapable of change; unalterable; immutable.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In current practice, some of the goals cannot be met; they should be considered as targets worthy of achievement, not as inflexible criteria of acceptance or rejection of methods.
  • (2) These words reflect a departure from Ankara's recent inflexibility, which led the country to freeze relations with Brussels during the Cypriot presidency of the EU in 2012.
  • (3) This results in patterns of inflexibility and weakness that can be demonstrated on a tennis-specific musculoskeletal exam, and that can be correlated with areas of increased injury occurrence.
  • (4) Perforation at the physiologically narrow sites of the esophagus is a wellknown mechanism as is the use of inflexible polyethylen tubes containing a mandrin.
  • (5) Postural instability was associated with abnormal patterns of postural responses including excessive antagonist activity and inflexibility in adapting to changing support conditions.
  • (6) It was only his inflexible determination, the quality that had made him a great general, that mastered the torments of ill-health – sleepless nights, fear of dying – to articulate his account for a devoted American audience.
  • (7) The day-to-day operation of the social security system (especially in universal credit) is crude, inflexible and too often oppressive .
  • (8) When we protect our old industries with subsidies and inflexible legislation, we risk losing all.
  • (9) Differences between groups were maintained across situations, and support the utility of conceptualizing personality disorders in terms of inflexible interpersonal styles.
  • (10) The inflexibility of the present system seems to be a major threat to the principle of regionalization.
  • (11) Wheras the guidelines may appear to be inflexible, they should not be considered as such.
  • (12) Traditional silicone prostheses have been found to be inflexible, heavy, and of poor color match when used on the limbs.
  • (13) When a mode of responding is adopted in noise, subjects are often rather inflexible and continue to use this strategy even though it is inappropriate.
  • (14) Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of the Guardian, said: "No individual newspaper editorial could hope to influence the outcome of Copenhagen but I hope the combined voice of 56 major papers speaking in 20 languages will remind the politicians and negotiators gathering there what is at stake and persuade them to rise above the rivalries and inflexibility that have stood in the way of a deal."
  • (15) Ipsa's guidelines on travel expenses suggest MPs should consider "value for money" and whether cheaper, inflexible tickets will end up costing more if travel arrangements change at short notice.
  • (16) We will make decisions based on real-world outcomes – not inflexible ideology,” Trump said.
  • (17) Seven dinucleoside monophosphates containing epsilonA (1,N6-ethenoadenosine) and 2'-O-methylcytidine were studied by 360-MHz proton magnetic resonance and compared with unmodified dimers and component monomers at 4, 20, 45, and 75 degrees C. These studies show that the dimers exhibit preference for the gg and g'g' conformations for the C-4'-C-5' and C-5'-O-5' bonds, respectively, and that dimerization induces an increase of the population and inflexibility of the 3'-endo conformations for the ribose ring.
  • (18) Because of its relative inflexibility, legislation cannot meet the challenge of the subtle and sensitive conflict of values under consideration, nor can it aid in the wise decision making by individuals which is required to assure optimum protection of subjects, together with the fullest effectiveness of research.
  • (19) It would be foolhardy to offer an inflexible step-care protocol for the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, given its heterogeneity and our uncertainty about its pathogenesis.
  • (20) Now researchers have developed a soft, flexible robot prototype inspired by starfish, worms and squid that overcomes some of the limitations of inflexible robots like Robbie.

Stiff


Definition:

  • (superl.) Not easily bent; not flexible or pliant; not limber or flaccid; rigid; firm; as, stiff wood, paper, joints.
  • (superl.) Not liquid or fluid; thick and tenacious; inspissated; neither soft nor hard; as, the paste is stiff.
  • (superl.) Firm; strong; violent; difficult to oppose; as, a stiff gale or breeze.
  • (superl.) Not easily subdued; unyielding; stubborn; obstinate; pertinacious; as, a stiff adversary.
  • (superl.) Not natural and easy; formal; constrained; affected; starched; as, stiff behavior; a stiff style.
  • (superl.) Harsh; disagreeable; severe; hard to bear.
  • (superl.) Bearing a press of canvas without careening much; as, a stiff vessel; -- opposed to crank.
  • (superl.) Very large, strong, or costly; powerful; as, a stiff charge; a stiff price.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) If you turn the bowl upside down, the whites should be stiff enough not to fall out.
  • (2) The stiffness of the fibre first rose abruptly in response to stretch and then started to decrease linearly while the stretch went on; after the completion of stretch the stiffness decreased towards a steady value which was equal to that during the isometric tetanus at the same sarcomere length, indicating that the enhancement of isometric force is associated with decreased stiffness.
  • (3) Current methodology for the in vitro determination of aortic and large artery stiffness is reviewed and involves three approaches: (1) the estimation of distensibility by pulse wave velocity measurement; (2) the estimation of distensibility from the fractional diameter change of a given arterial segment by imaging techniques (e.g., angiography, Doppler ultrasound) against pressure change; (3) the estimation of compliance by determining volume change against pressure change in the arterial system during diastolic runoff from the Windkessel model of the circulation.
  • (4) The maintenance of adequate blood circulation requires a sufficient ventricular contractility; in addition, to eject blood, the ventricles must first receive a sufficient volume, requiring a low diastolic stiffness.
  • (5) Stiffness was reduced in approximate proportion to the ramp stretch rate, and the reduction was confined largely to the elastic component.
  • (6) Proof stress, ultimate tensile strength, elongation, and plastic stiffness have been measured and results compared by use of analyses of variance.
  • (7) In other words, the stiffness of these areas was low and the recovery from deformation was fast.
  • (8) But the same court also just refused to hear an appeal of a Minnesota woman who's been ordered to pay more than $220,000 for downloading two-dozen songs – a testament to Congress' gift to Hollywood and its allies in the form of absurdly stiff penalties for minor infringement.
  • (9) The tension-length relation for the unstimulated (passive) cell is also linear between 1r and the elastic limit, but is displaced from the active tension-length curve and is of reduced stiffness.
  • (10) Bilaterals in summit seasons can be stiff exchanges, where digressions can carry risks: not enough said, too much said.
  • (11) We measured the stiffness of comparable configurations (1 or 2 bars) under axial compression, four-point-bending in two planes, and torsion.
  • (12) Tiny, tiny... rodents – some soft and grey, some brown with black stripes, in paintings, posters, wallcharts, thumb-tacked magazine clippings and poorly executed crayon drawings, hurling themselves fatally in their thousands over the cliff of their island home; or crudely taxidermied and mounted, eyes glazed and little paws frozen stiff – on every available surface.
  • (13) The bone stiffness also correlates strongly with the geometry (area) and slightly with bone mass; however, an unexpectedly low correlation was found between stiffness and density.
  • (14) Finally, fibrosis may paradoxically reduce passive stiffness if it leads to a thinning of the interventricular septum.
  • (15) A young male nephrotic patient, who was given small doses of clofibrate for hyperlipaemia, developed muscle pain, stiffness and very high serum levels of muscle enzymes.
  • (16) Impaired left ventricular stiffness may be an additional criterion for using corinfar in patients with coronary heart disease.
  • (17) The increase of elastic fibres following denervation and reinnervation represents an obviously meaningful reaction that may compensate for loss of tonic properties of muscle spindles without causing stiffness.
  • (18) Only the bone-patellar tendon-bone unit had maximum force and stiffness greater than that of the ACL.
  • (19) The initial stiffness is poorly described by material or catheter gauge.
  • (20) The stiffness tester and torque meter were found to yield nearly the same measurements of bending deformation for orthodontic wires as small as .007 inch diameter, provided the different bending apparatus are calibrated to each other.