What does "stiff" mean?
An average person, usually male, of no particular distinction, skill, or education.
Stiff
/stɪf/ adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An average person, usually male, of no particular distinction, skill, or education.
- Grammar: stiff is listed as adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: cadaver, corpse, a bit much, abandoned.
- Useful contrasts: flexible, loose, malleable.
- Usage evidence: Shoes are stiff when they are new.
How to use "stiff"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "stiff" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "stiff" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "stiff" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "stiff" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "stiff" is acting as adj, adv, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "cadaver" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "stiff", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An average person, usually male, of no particular distinction, skill, or education. Canada, US, countable, slang, uncountable
"working stiff"
- 2 the dead body of a human being wordnet
- 3 A person who is deceived, as a mark or pigeon in a swindle. countable, slang, uncountable
"She convinced the stiff to go to her hotel room, where her henchman was waiting to rob him."
- 4 an ordinary man wordnet
- 5 A cadaver; a dead person. countable, slang, uncountable
"This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies!"
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 A flop; a commercial failure. countable, slang, uncountable
"If the movie was a stiff it wasn't any of their specific faults. They were all in it together and they were jobbed in and jobbed out for two weeks and gone and they got a pile of money for their efforts."
- 7 A person who leaves (especially a restaurant) without paying the bill. US, countable, slang, uncountable
- 8 A customer who does not leave a tip. US, broadly, countable, slang, uncountable
- 9 Any hard hand where it is possible to exceed 21 by drawing an additional card. countable, uncountable
- 10 Negotiable instruments, possibly forged. countable, slang, uncountable
- 11 A note or letter surreptitiously sent by an inmate. countable, slang, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To fail to pay that which one owes (implicitly or explicitly) to another, especially by departing hastily.
"He stiffed me on the tip."
- 2 To cheat someone.
"You see, poor Nonie really was stiffed by Adolph in his will. He really stiffed her, Rose, and I really wanted to right that wrong."
- 3 To tip ungenerously.
"Then he stiffed the waiter with a cheap tip."
- 4 To kill. slang
"But you know it could be a hassle / Trying to explain myself to a police officer / About how it was your old lady got herself stiffed"
- 5 To be unsuccessful. informal
""Come To Me" moved but a few to buy a copy; "My Queen" stiffed in the stall."
Adjective
- 1 Rigid; hard to bend; inflexible.
"“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;[…]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache."
- 2 Inflexible; rigid. figuratively
- 3 Formal in behavior; unrelaxed.
- 4 Harsh, severe. colloquial
"He was eventually caught, and given a stiff fine."
- 5 Painful or more rigid than usual as a result of excessive or unaccustomed exercise.
"My legs are stiff after climbing that hill yesterday."
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 Potent.
"a stiff drink; a stiff dose; a stiff breeze"
- 7 Expensive, pricey. informal
"He had the practised face of a dealer also. But he was a Jew and chaffering was in his blood, and he said, "A bit stiff, isn't it? I mean without a guarantee that it's by the original maker?""
- 8 Dead, deceased. informal
- 9 Erect. slang
"Adieu! faint-hearted instrument of lust; / That falselie hath betrayde our equale trust. / Hence-forth no more will I implore thine ayde, / Or thee, or man of cowardize upbrayde. / My little dilldo shall suply their kinde: / A knaue, that moues as light as leaues by winde; / That bendeth not, nor fouldeth anie deale, / But stands as stiff as he were made of steele; / And playes at peacock twixt my leggs right blythe, / And doeth my tickling swage with manie a sighe. / For, by saint Runnion! he'le refresh me well; / And neuer make my tender bellie swell."
- 10 Having a dense consistency; thick; (by extension) Difficult to stir.
"Adding too much peanut butter to your Peanut Sauce recipe may cause your sauce to turn out too stiff."
- 11 Beaten until so aerated that they stand up straight on their own.
"beat the egg whites until they are stiff"
- 12 Of an equation, for which certain numerical solving methods are numerically unstable, unless the step size is taken to be extremely small.
- 13 Keeping upright.
- 14 Of a shot, landing so close to the flagstick that it should be very easy to sink the ball with the next shot.
"I go all out, go for the long ball, the stiff shots to the pin, aim for the back of the cup."
- 15 Delivered more forcefully than needed, whether intentionally or accidentally, thus causing legitimate pain to the opponent.
Adjective
- 1 very drunk wordnet
- 2 incapable of or resistant to bending wordnet
- 3 rigidly formal wordnet
- 4 not moving or operating freely wordnet
- 5 having a strong physiological or chemical effect wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 marked by firm determination or resolution; not shakable wordnet
- 7 strong, vigorous wordnet
Adverb
- 1 Of the wind, with great force; strongly.
"At Feversham was a very High Tide in the Afternoon, tho' the Wind was Southerly, and blew very stiff, which the Seamen there wondered at."
Adverb
- 1 in a stiff manner wordnet
- 2 to a great degree wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Example
"Shoes are stiff when they are new."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "stiff"?
Common synonyms include: cadaver, corpse, a bit much, abandoned, abusive, adamant.
How do you use "stiff" in a sentence?
Shoes are stiff when they are new.
How do you pronounce "stiff"?
Pronounced /stɪf/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English stiff, stiffe, stif, from Old English stīf, from Proto-West Germanic *stīf, from Proto-Germanic *stīfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *steypós. See also West Frisian stiif, Dutch stijf, Norwegian Bokmål stiv, German steif; also Latin stīpes, stīpō, from which English stevedore. The expected Modern English form would be /staɪf/; /stɪf/ is probably originally from compounds such as stiffly, where the vowel was shortened before a consonant cluster.
Etymology 2
English surname, from the adjective stiff.