Stultify
verb
To make someone or something seem foolish or useless.
His long, boring speeches often stultify his own arguments.
Often appears as...
- stultify oneself
- stultify an argument
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
verb
To cause to lose enthusiasm and initiative, especially as a result of a tedious or restrictive routine.
The monotonous job had a stultifying effect on their creativity.
Often appears as...
- stultify creativity
- stultifying job
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
verb
To make someone or something seem foolish or useless.
His long, boring speeches often stultify his own arguments.
Often appears as...
- stultify oneself
- stultify an argument
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
verb
To cause to lose enthusiasm and initiative, especially as a result of a tedious or restrictive routine.
The monotonous job had a stultifying effect on their creativity.
Often appears as...
- stultify creativity
- stultifying job
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Undermining Effect
Stultify can describe how someone's actions reduce the seriousness or effectiveness of something.
When he joked during the presentation, it stultified the seriousness of the topic.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Context
Often used in a negative context, implying a deterioration of quality or value.
Her dismissive comments stultified the team's proposal.
Pro Tip 3/3Hint of Ridicule
May carry a connotation of ridiculing or making something appear absurd.
His oversimplification stultified the complexity of the issue.
Pro Tip 1/3Undermining Effect
Stultify can describe how someone's actions reduce the seriousness or effectiveness of something.
When he joked during the presentation, it stultified the seriousness of the topic.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Context
Often used in a negative context, implying a deterioration of quality or value.
Her dismissive comments stultified the team's proposal.
Pro Tip 3/3Hint of Ridicule
May carry a connotation of ridiculing or making something appear absurd.
His oversimplification stultified the complexity of the issue.
Pro Tip 1/3Undermining Effect
Stultify can describe how someone's actions reduce the seriousness or effectiveness of something.
When he joked during the presentation, it stultified the seriousness of the topic.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Context
Often used in a negative context, implying a deterioration of quality or value.
Her dismissive comments stultified the team's proposal.
Pro Tip 3/3Hint of Ridicule
May carry a connotation of ridiculing or making something appear absurd.
His oversimplification stultified the complexity of the issue.
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Quote examples
Katherine Dunn
American Novelist
There are those whose own vulgar normality is so apparent and stultifying that they strive to escape it. They affect flamboyant behaviour and claim originality according to the fashionable eccentricities of their time. They claim brains or talent or indifference to mores in desperate attempts to deny their own mediocrity.
Quote examples
Elizabeth Berg
American Author
People see 'tradition' as something stultifying, old, and rigid, nothing that has meaning or application for us today. But families shouldn't have to follow the blueprint of the old. They can make family traditions out of whatever makes them feel comfortable and helps bring a sense of order and stability to their lives.
Quote examples
Mira Nair
Indian Director
Either you're this, or you're that: either you're - if you're a Pakistani, you're a terrorist; if you're an American, you might be a militarist. Those kind of prisms that we see each other through are really stultifying, and they don't often show the complexity and the incredible warmth and encompassing of the world.
Quote examples
M. J. Rose
American Author
I began tailoring my books to cater to one or another universe of readers. I found it incredibly boring; and frankly, it felt stultifying. I'd previously been in advertising. I felt if I was going to create something to fit a specific market, I might as well have stayed with advertising.
Quote examples
Edmund Phelps
American Economist
I just think that the Europeans are depriving themselves of a high-employment economy, and they are depriving themselves of intellectual stimulation in the workplace - and personal growth - by sticking to the stultifying, rigid system that I call corporatism.
Quote examples
Rollo May
American Psychologist
Freedom is the possibility of development, of enhancement of one's life - or the possibility of withdrawing, shutting oneself up, denying and stultifying one's growth.
Quote examples
Dawn Foster
British Journalist
Reading is a pleasure, yes, but not without effort: choosing to read novels purely because they mirror your own experience is stultifying.
Quote examples
Mary H.K. Choi
South Korean Author
Even the coolest jobs get stultifying with repetition, and the only way to break that cycle is to bring another job into the mix.
Quote examples
Paul Singer
American Businessman
In government, the forces of risk-aversion and constant conflict serve to stultify and narrow the range of ideas up for debate.
Quote examples
Lisa Jewell
British Author
For me, the optimum circumstances for writing a book are those of stultifying routine.
Quote examples
Katherine Dunn
American Novelist
There are those whose own vulgar normality is so apparent and stultifying that they strive to escape it. They affect flamboyant behaviour and claim originality according to the fashionable eccentricities of their time. They claim brains or talent or indifference to mores in desperate attempts to deny their own mediocrity.
Quote examples
Elizabeth Berg
American Author
People see 'tradition' as something stultifying, old, and rigid, nothing that has meaning or application for us today. But families shouldn't have to follow the blueprint of the old. They can make family traditions out of whatever makes them feel comfortable and helps bring a sense of order and stability to their lives.
Quote examples
Mira Nair
Indian Director
Either you're this, or you're that: either you're - if you're a Pakistani, you're a terrorist; if you're an American, you might be a militarist. Those kind of prisms that we see each other through are really stultifying, and they don't often show the complexity and the incredible warmth and encompassing of the world.
Quote examples
M. J. Rose
American Author
I began tailoring my books to cater to one or another universe of readers. I found it incredibly boring; and frankly, it felt stultifying. I'd previously been in advertising. I felt if I was going to create something to fit a specific market, I might as well have stayed with advertising.
Quote examples
Edmund Phelps
American Economist
I just think that the Europeans are depriving themselves of a high-employment economy, and they are depriving themselves of intellectual stimulation in the workplace - and personal growth - by sticking to the stultifying, rigid system that I call corporatism.
Quote examples
Rollo May
American Psychologist
Freedom is the possibility of development, of enhancement of one's life - or the possibility of withdrawing, shutting oneself up, denying and stultifying one's growth.
Quote examples
Dawn Foster
British Journalist
Reading is a pleasure, yes, but not without effort: choosing to read novels purely because they mirror your own experience is stultifying.
Quote examples
Mary H.K. Choi
South Korean Author
Even the coolest jobs get stultifying with repetition, and the only way to break that cycle is to bring another job into the mix.
Quote examples
Paul Singer
American Businessman
In government, the forces of risk-aversion and constant conflict serve to stultify and narrow the range of ideas up for debate.
Quote examples
Lisa Jewell
British Author
For me, the optimum circumstances for writing a book are those of stultifying routine.
Example 1 of 10
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