stiffen
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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“People get scared of the sway, the wobble. If you’ve had a fall before, you get a fear of falling again and you stiffen up, you become protective,” Swanson says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said that young people should stiffen their spines and embrace hardship.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026
She has also vowed to stiffen prison sentences and to impose a state of emergency in areas worst hit by crime.
From Barron's ● Feb. 1, 2026
This leads the muscles to weaken and stiffen over time and ultimately impacts how you walk, talk, eat and breathe.
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2025
I saw the tiny body of The Grand High Witch stiffen and then go rigid with rage.
From "The Witches" by Roald Dahl
The biggest reason is that our maximum heart rate slows with age, and the heart muscle stiffens, reducing its pumping effectiveness.
From Barron's ● May 23, 2026
Over time, inflammation can progress to fibrosis and scarring that stiffens the liver.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2026
Last year, Alibaba announced a plan to fold food-delivery and online-travel services into its e-commerce unit as competition stiffens in the Chinese market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
"Everyone, by the time you get to your mid-30s, maybe early 40s, you'll notice that the lens of the eye really stiffens," she said.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2025
But today, instead of her usual greeting, Did you sleep well, Uhmma’s back stiffens and she quickly puts something into a brown paper bag she is holding at her side.
From "A Step from Heaven" by An Na
The Romans, their ranks stiffened by Genoese and Venetian troops, did their best to resist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
When the heart must work harder because of exercise, heat, stress or another cause, stiffened blood vessels may be less able to accommodate the increased blood flow.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
They reckon it may have stiffened the resolve of the German public and discouraged rebels within the dying Nazi regime.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 12, 2026
The barrels -- bound tightly with rope, their fabric skins stiffened and darkened with lacquer -- inevitably recall the Gulf's vast hydrocarbon wealth.
From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026
At the close I always put the pen in her stiffened fingers so she could sign it.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Softening rather than stiffening when moving through space requires embracing your body’s natural sway and tiny micro-movements, like an ankle wobbling or knee jiggling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
It’s hard to imagine a greater accomplishment than to achieve peace while stiffening the sinews of deterrence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026
These findings further support the idea that chronic inflammation drives tissue stiffening.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 24, 2026
No wonder OpenAI’s Sam Altman issued a “code red” alert to employees urging them to step up the pace of chatbot development in the face of stiffening competition from the likes of Google’s Gemini.
From Barron's ● Dec. 3, 2025
A fourth try and he had it all but strung— when a stiffening in Odysseus made him check.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Vocabulary lists containing stiffen
