stiffness

From Middle English stiffenes, styffenesse, styfnesse; equivalent to stiff +‎ -ness. Perhaps merging with Middle English stithnesse, stithnysse, from Old English stīþness (“stiffness”).

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stiffness (countable and uncountable, plural stiffnesses)

1. Rigidity or a measure of rigidity.
2. Inflexibility or a measure of inflexibility.
3. Inelegance; a lack of relaxedness.

   His stiffness hampered the conversation.

   • 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations‎^[1]:

     Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.

   • 2021 September 3, Charudutta Panigrahi, “The Intimacy Of Slangs”, in Odisha News‎^[2], archived from the original on 19 March 2025:

     After years when I met a friend inside the aircraft and could sense stiffness in the conversation, a whiff of mild slang was the ice breaker, followed by loads of campus nostalgia.

4. Muscular tension due to unaccustomed or excessive exercise or work; soreness.
   • 2024 September 6, David Zelman, “Understanding Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis -- the Basics”, in WebMD‎^[3]:

     Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), often referred to by doctors today as juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), is a type of arthritis that causes joint inflammation and stiffness for more than six weeks in a child aged 16 or younger. It affects approximately 50,000 children in the United States. Inflammation causes redness, swelling, warmth, and soreness in the joints, although many children with JRA do not complain of joint pain.