Sturdy
adj, name, noun ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A disease caused by a coenurus infestation in the brain of an animal, especially a sheep or canid; coenurosis. uncountable
- 1 Of firm build; stiff; stout; strong.
"a sturdy oak tree"
- 2 Solid in structure or person.
"It was a sturdy building, able to withstand strong winds and cold weather."
- 3 Foolishly obstinate or resolute; stubborn. obsolete
"This must be done, and I would fain see / Mortal so sturdy as to gainsay."
- 4 Resolute, in a good sense; or firm, unyielding quality.
"a man of sturdy piety or patriotism"
- 1 substantially made or constructed wordnet
- 2 not making concessions wordnet
- 3 having rugged physical strength; inured to fatigue or hardships wordnet
- 1 A surname from Middle English.
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"This is a very sturdy chair to sit in."
Etymology
From Middle English sturdy, stourdy, stordy (“bold, valiant, strong, stern, fierce, rebellious”) (perhaps influenced by Middle English sture, stoure, stor (“strong, robust, harsh, stern, violent, fierce, sturdy”); see English stour), from Old French estourdi (“dazed”), form of estourdir, originally “to daze, to make tipsy (almost drunk)” (Modern French étourdir (“to daze, to make tipsy”)), from Vulgar Latin *exturdire. Latin etymology is unclear – presumably it is ex- + turdus (“thrush (bird)”), but how this should mean “daze” is unclear. A speculative theory is that thrushes eat leftover winery grapes and thus became drunk, but this meets with objections. Disease in cows and sheep is by extension of sense of “daze”, while sense of “strongly built” is of late 14th century, and relationship to earlier sense is less clear, perhaps from sense of a firm strike (causing a daze) or a strong, violent person.
A nickname from Middle English stourdy (“bold, valiant, reckless”).
Related phrases
More for "sturdy"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.