Stiffen
verb
To become or make something become firm or rigid.
The glue will stiffen as it dries.
Often appears as...
- stiffen the resolve
- stiffen the resistance
verb
To become or make someone become tense or anxious.
She stiffened at the sight of the spider.
Often appears as...
- stiffen with fear
- stiffen with anxiety
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To resist or confront something more strongly.
The city has stiffened penalties for parking violations.
Often appears as...
- stiffen penalties
- stiffen resistance
Usage tips
Approving
verb
To become or make something become firm or rigid.
The glue will stiffen as it dries.
Often appears as...
- stiffen the resolve
- stiffen the resistance
verb
To become or make someone become tense or anxious.
She stiffened at the sight of the spider.
Often appears as...
- stiffen with fear
- stiffen with anxiety
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To resist or confront something more strongly.
The city has stiffened penalties for parking violations.
Often appears as...
- stiffen penalties
- stiffen resistance
Usage tips
Approving
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Change
Describes literal hardening or solidifying of materials or objects, often over time.
Mix the ingredients until they stiffen into dough.
Pro Tip 2/3Metaphoric Use
Used figuratively to describe firming up things like plans, positions, or attitudes.
The politician had to stiffen his stance on climate policy.
Pro Tip 3/3Body Language
Can indicate a sudden physical response to surprise or discomfort, often involuntary.
His jaw stiffened when he heard the unexpected noise.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Change
Describes literal hardening or solidifying of materials or objects, often over time.
Mix the ingredients until they stiffen into dough.
Pro Tip 2/3Metaphoric Use
Used figuratively to describe firming up things like plans, positions, or attitudes.
The politician had to stiffen his stance on climate policy.
Pro Tip 3/3Body Language
Can indicate a sudden physical response to surprise or discomfort, often involuntary.
His jaw stiffened when he heard the unexpected noise.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Change
Describes literal hardening or solidifying of materials or objects, often over time.
Mix the ingredients until they stiffen into dough.
Pro Tip 2/3Metaphoric Use
Used figuratively to describe firming up things like plans, positions, or attitudes.
The politician had to stiffen his stance on climate policy.
Pro Tip 3/3Body Language
Can indicate a sudden physical response to surprise or discomfort, often involuntary.
His jaw stiffened when he heard the unexpected noise.
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Video examples
The chemistry of cookies...
so like mud baking in the sun, your cookie gets dried out and it stiffens. Cracks spread across its surface. The steam that was bubbling inside evaporates, leaving behind airy pockets that make the cookie light and flaky. Helping this along is your leavening agent, sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda.
Video examples
Lee Hotz: Inside an...
otherwise, the key gases inside it will dissipate. So, in the coldest place on Earth, they work inside a refrigerator. As they handle the ice, in fact, they keep an extra pair of gloves warming in an oven, so that, when their work gloves freeze and their fingers stiffen,
Video examples
A Handy Zombie...
is new to the world of the undead you can tell by his incredible strength and ferocity there are four distinct types of zombies and this one is called a berserker this is a stage two zombie rigor mortis has set in throughout the body stiffening its muscles giving it
Video examples
How to 3D print human...
either onto a flat surface or into a liquid bath that’ll help hold the structure in place until it stabilizes. These printers are fast, producing the meniscus in about half an hour, one thin strand at a time. After printing, some bioinks will stiffen immediately;
Video examples
My immigration story -...
uniform down to the ankles because it had to last for six years and there were rare but searing chance of slid I and the occasional graffiti Asian go home go home to wear something stiffened inside me there was a gathering of resolve and
Video examples
How blood pressure works...
Fat and cholesterol floating in the blood latch on, too, eventually building up to form a plaque that stiffens and thickens the inner arterial wall. This condition is called atherosclerosis, and it can have dangerous consequences.
Video examples
What happens to our...
And while at the moment of death the body's muscles relax completely in a condition called primary flaccidity, they stiffen about two to six hours later in what's known as rigor mortis. This stiffening spreads through the muscles,
Video examples
This sea creature...
Proteins can interact with these fibrils to slide them together, stiffening the tissue, or apart, softening it. This versatile tissue has many it aids in efficient locomotion, enables sea cucumbers to fit into small spaces,
Video examples
Why is cotton in...
called the primary cell wall, stiffen, pushing cell growth in one direction and causing the fiber to elongate. The fiber elongates quickly for about 16 days. Then it begins the next strengthening the cell wall.
Video examples
Explaining the Tree of...
developed into wings the insects had arrived life moved into the air and diversified into myriad folders meanwhile back in the seas those creatures were the stiffening rod in
Video examples
The chemistry of cookies...
so like mud baking in the sun, your cookie gets dried out and it stiffens. Cracks spread across its surface. The steam that was bubbling inside evaporates, leaving behind airy pockets that make the cookie light and flaky. Helping this along is your leavening agent, sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda.
Video examples
Lee Hotz: Inside an...
otherwise, the key gases inside it will dissipate. So, in the coldest place on Earth, they work inside a refrigerator. As they handle the ice, in fact, they keep an extra pair of gloves warming in an oven, so that, when their work gloves freeze and their fingers stiffen,
Video examples
A Handy Zombie...
is new to the world of the undead you can tell by his incredible strength and ferocity there are four distinct types of zombies and this one is called a berserker this is a stage two zombie rigor mortis has set in throughout the body stiffening its muscles giving it
Video examples
How to 3D print human...
either onto a flat surface or into a liquid bath that’ll help hold the structure in place until it stabilizes. These printers are fast, producing the meniscus in about half an hour, one thin strand at a time. After printing, some bioinks will stiffen immediately;
Video examples
My immigration story -...
uniform down to the ankles because it had to last for six years and there were rare but searing chance of slid I and the occasional graffiti Asian go home go home to wear something stiffened inside me there was a gathering of resolve and
Video examples
How blood pressure works...
Fat and cholesterol floating in the blood latch on, too, eventually building up to form a plaque that stiffens and thickens the inner arterial wall. This condition is called atherosclerosis, and it can have dangerous consequences.
Video examples
What happens to our...
And while at the moment of death the body's muscles relax completely in a condition called primary flaccidity, they stiffen about two to six hours later in what's known as rigor mortis. This stiffening spreads through the muscles,
Video examples
This sea creature...
Proteins can interact with these fibrils to slide them together, stiffening the tissue, or apart, softening it. This versatile tissue has many it aids in efficient locomotion, enables sea cucumbers to fit into small spaces,
Video examples
Why is cotton in...
called the primary cell wall, stiffen, pushing cell growth in one direction and causing the fiber to elongate. The fiber elongates quickly for about 16 days. Then it begins the next strengthening the cell wall.
Video examples
Explaining the Tree of...
developed into wings the insects had arrived life moved into the air and diversified into myriad folders meanwhile back in the seas those creatures were the stiffening rod in
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Ronen Bergman
Israeli Journalist
Israel's discourse with the United States on the subject of Iran's nuclear project is more significant, and more fraught, than it is with Europe. The U.S. has made efforts to stiffen sanctions against Iran and to mobilize countries like Russia and China to apply sanctions in exchange for substantial American concessions.
Quote examples
Gail Collins
American Journalist
I admired the way McCain worked on campaign finance reform. I admired the way Nancy Pelosi stiffened the Democrats' spine during the health care debate. I admire the way Barack Obama has raised a dog in the White House without ever putting it on the roof of the car for a vacation drive.
Quote examples
Isabella Bird
English Explorer
The kimono, haori, and girdle, and even the long hanging sleeves, have only parallel seams, and these are only tacked or basted, as the garments, when washed, are taken to pieces, and each piece, after being very slightly stiffened, is stretched upon a board to dry.
Quote examples
Sylvia Plath
American Poet
That is how it stiffens, my vision of that seaside childhood. My father died; we moved inland. Whereon those nine first years of my life sealed themselves off like a ship in a bottle - beautiful, inaccessible, obsolete: a fine, white, flying myth.
Quote examples
Jennifer Tilly
American Actress
That Hollywood thing, where everybody hugs and kisses everybody else - I always stiffen. It's an assumed familiarity. It's phony.
Quote examples
F. H. Bradley
British Philosopher
Our live experiences, fixed in aphorisms, stiffen into cold epigrams. Our heart's blood, as we write it, turns to mere dull ink.
Quote examples
Michael Greger
American Author
Without enough nitric oxide, your arteries can stiffen, raising blood pressure and your risk of heart attack.
Quote examples
Billy Graham
American Clergyman
Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.
Quote examples
E. M. Forster
English Novelist
Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch.
Quote examples
Ronen Bergman
Israeli Journalist
Israel's discourse with the United States on the subject of Iran's nuclear project is more significant, and more fraught, than it is with Europe. The U.S. has made efforts to stiffen sanctions against Iran and to mobilize countries like Russia and China to apply sanctions in exchange for substantial American concessions.
Quote examples
Gail Collins
American Journalist
I admired the way McCain worked on campaign finance reform. I admired the way Nancy Pelosi stiffened the Democrats' spine during the health care debate. I admire the way Barack Obama has raised a dog in the White House without ever putting it on the roof of the car for a vacation drive.
Quote examples
Isabella Bird
English Explorer
The kimono, haori, and girdle, and even the long hanging sleeves, have only parallel seams, and these are only tacked or basted, as the garments, when washed, are taken to pieces, and each piece, after being very slightly stiffened, is stretched upon a board to dry.
Quote examples
Sylvia Plath
American Poet
That is how it stiffens, my vision of that seaside childhood. My father died; we moved inland. Whereon those nine first years of my life sealed themselves off like a ship in a bottle - beautiful, inaccessible, obsolete: a fine, white, flying myth.
Quote examples
Jennifer Tilly
American Actress
That Hollywood thing, where everybody hugs and kisses everybody else - I always stiffen. It's an assumed familiarity. It's phony.
Quote examples
F. H. Bradley
British Philosopher
Our live experiences, fixed in aphorisms, stiffen into cold epigrams. Our heart's blood, as we write it, turns to mere dull ink.
Quote examples
Michael Greger
American Author
Without enough nitric oxide, your arteries can stiffen, raising blood pressure and your risk of heart attack.
Quote examples
Billy Graham
American Clergyman
Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.
Quote examples
E. M. Forster
English Novelist
Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch.
Example 1 of 9
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