(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.
Stiffly
Definition:
(adv.) In a stiff manner.
Example Sentences:
(1) Their carefully judged mischief lightened the whole mixture like stiffly beaten egg-whites.
(2) "I understand your question," the president said stiffly.
(3) A little stiffly, he stood at a lectern with a large projector screen beside him.
(4) The sponge is made from stiffly beaten egg whites and ground almonds.
(5) First it will be softly whipped, then stiffly whipped.
(6) Of the 15-month-old children, 90% walked with ability to stop and start, and 90% of the 18-month-old were in addition able to walk backwards, run stiffly, climb up and down a standard staircase and seat themselves in an armchair of suitable size.
(7) Nonetheless, as Angela Eagle said stiffly on Sunday’s Andrew Marr show when asked: “He’s the leader we’ve got.” Ejection is fanciful, unless the membership changes its mind.
(8) "I don't sleep around, if that's what you mean," she says stiffly.
(9) She stood stiffly, scenting the air, her sparse brush in an uneasy curl.
(10) Highlights include a stiffly worded letter from a gentleman complaining to the home secretary about the lack of sanitary towels for suffragettes in Holloway (while avoiding using the phrase “sanitary towels”) and a Daily Express article about Miss Muriel Matters who took to a dirigible to drop paper bills on parliament in return for their “dropping” of the women’s suffrage bills.
(11) He tells him to loosen his shoulders and Crozier, sitting stiffly and gripping a Royal Mail mug, makes an effort to shrug a little.
(12) Garrison, in orange face, sits stiffly on his sofa.
(13) The 54-year-old, sitting stiffly upright on the small wooden deck of her immaculately kept trailer home backing on to the railway line, has spent her adult life navigating the obstacles and traps of living below the poverty line as she raised five children on her own.
(14) "We look at those fast-fading sepia photographs of people posing stiffly, proudly in uniform, in many cases the first and last image ever taken of them.
(15) Standing stiffly in a control centre overlooking Helsinki harbour against a backdrop of grey seas and driving sleet, he appears poised to dash off at any moment for a real-life remake of the Sean Connery film The Hunt for Red October.
(16) They always stood erectly and stiffly on the perch; they were unable to roost.
(17) There are certain contractual obligations and one does the best that one can do,” he says stiffly when I ask about press interviews.
(18) The two leftwing parties supporting the governing coalition are also stiffly opposed to the proposed savings saying it is impossible to impose such stringent policies on a “society that is disintegrating” after more than two years of repeated tax hikes, pay and pension cuts.
(19) The quenelle One hand points stiffly downwards, while the other is raised across the chest.
(20) Then he was a slim six-footer who hoped to be the first person with cystic fibrosis to climb Everest; now, he’s about two stones lighter, a gaunt figure moving stiffly.