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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Depending on the situation, the material can bend, buckle, or stiffen in different ways, all without electronics, sensors, or active control systems.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 11, 2026
“It probably would stiffen their spine,” said Brian Latell, a former CIA analyst who wrote a biography of Castro and his older brother Fidel Castro.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 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
Calling the eradication of extortion “one of the great challenges” facing Mexico, Sheinbaum pledged to bolster enforcement, stiffen penalties and increase safeguards for anyone receiving threats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2025
When we’d finished, I was beginning to stiffen up, so I got up to move around and looked in on one of the two dormitories.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Once the pH returns to normal, the tissue stiffens again and locks into its new form.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026
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
More than 13% of Americans 75 and older have the condition, in which the aortic valve stiffens and narrows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026
That creates a curve or bend in the material, which also stiffens it.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026
She stiffens at first—must’ve caught her off guard—but then she says, “Me too, Rae. I’m glad, too.”
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
Others argued the particles stiffened the surrounding material like glue.
From Science Daily ● May 13, 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
Johnson’s move appears to have stiffened investors’ spines.
From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026
Marinello said that could change if countries stiffened the penalties for stealing cultural heritage by calling it cultural terrorism.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2025
His posture stiffened as my words appeared to sink in.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
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
Speaking to the BBC, he said with a "stiffening resolve" politicians could "take back control" of the levers of democracy.
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 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
It smashed 300-pound spheres swinging on a pendulum into a fuselage panel to deliberately damage it, causing one of the stiffening rods to break, then repeatedly applied loads representative of those in flight 40,000 times.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 15, 2024
“It’s split right down the middle,” said Major Sanderson, who had laced his lumpy GI shoes for the occasion and had slicked his charcoal-dull hair down with some stiffening and redolent tonic.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Vocabulary lists containing stiffen
