Stiffly

//ˈstɪfli// adv

adv ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    In a stiff manner.

    "'Twas Mr. Glennie who first moved to seek me; for when the second day came that I was not at school, he thought that I was ill, and went to my aunt's to ask how I did, as was his wont when any ailed. But Aunt Jane answered him stiffly that she could not say how I did."

Adverb
  1. 1
    in a stiff manner wordnet
  2. 2
    in a rigid manner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
boltfirmlygrimlyhardlyrigidlyrigidly

Example

More examples

"He moved stiffly after doing too much in the gym the day before."

Etymology

From Middle English stifly, styfly; equivalent to stiff + -ly.

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