Rigidity

//ɹɪˈd͡ʒɪdɪti// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The quality or state of being rigid; lack of pliability; the quality of resisting change of physical shape. countable, uncountable

    "moral rigidity"

  2. 2
    the quality of being rigid and rigorously severe wordnet
  3. 3
    The amount of resistance with which a body opposes change of form. countable, uncountable

    "structural rigidity"

  4. 4
    the physical property of being stiff and resisting bending wordnet
  5. 5
    Stiffness of appearance or manner; want of ease or elegance. countable, uncountable

    "speak with excessive rigidity"

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    stickiness (of prices/wages etc.). Describing the tendency of prices and money wages to adjust to changes in the economy with a certain delay. countable, uncountable

Example

More examples

"This year, investigators in New York and Australia began a clinical trial involving a therapy to treat patients with Parkinson's disease, a neuro-degenerative illness that causes severe tremors, muscle rigidity and poor coordination."

Etymology

From rigid + -ity, from Latin rigiditas.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.