Rigid
adj, noun ·Common ·Middle school level
Definitions
- 1 An airship whose shape is maintained solely by an internal and/or external rigid structural framework, without using internal gas pressure to stiffen the vehicle (the lifting gas is at atmospheric pressure); typically also equipped with multiple redundant gasbags, unlike other types of airship.
"The rigid could reach the greatest sizes and speeds of any airship, but was expensive to build and bulky to store. Rigids fell out of favor after the R101 and Hindenburg disasters made the type seem unsafe to the travelling public."
- 2 A bicycle with no suspension system.
- 1 Stiff, rather than flexible.
- 2 Having inflexible thoughts, opinions, or beliefs.
- 3 Fixed, rather than moving.
"A sunflower, four more, one bowed, and horses in the distance standing rigid and still as toys."
- 4 Rigorous and unbending.
- 5 Uncompromising.
- 1 incapable of or resistant to bending wordnet
- 2 designating an airship or dirigible having a form maintained by a stiff unyielding frame or structure wordnet
- 3 incapable of adapting or changing to meet circumstances wordnet
- 4 fixed and unmoving wordnet
- 5 incapable of compromise or flexibility wordnet
Example
More examples"Rigid wheels give sufficient stability to a low-speed vehicle steered by outside forces."
Etymology
From Middle English rigide, from Latin rigidus (“stiff”), from rigeō (“I am stiff”). Compare rigor. Merged with Middle English rigged, rygged, rugged (“upright like a spine, rigid”, literally “ridged”), from ridge + -ed.
Related phrases
More for "rigid"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.