stiff
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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Celtic then host Hearts - who Benfica beat 7-2 on aggregate in European qualifiers earlier this term - before facing Celta Vigo in another stiff Europa League test.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
As the heart can still pump normally, but becomes stiff and does not fill properly, heart failure treatments are less effective.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
On the visionary west wall, a gray-hatted Ludovico, in stiff profile, encounters his young son Francesco, made a cardinal at age 17.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
“It is a pretty stiff penalty. You’ve got a problem, just pay it off and get rid of it,” Durbin said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Dodger’s ears kept flicking forward and back, and his muscles and gait were stiff.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
Trapped in this stiffer, earlier incarnation, the only acting Strong is able to do is poke his head straight up from his shoulders until he resembles a retractable pen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Justice Curtis Farber, calling Weinstein “the literal face of the #MeToo movement,” said the producer’s lack of remorse and harmful conduct weighed in favor of a stiffer sentence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
If he ventures onto a dance floor now, he admits "my two-step has become a lot stiffer" out of anxiety that a wrong move could be filmed and send him viral.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
Over two days, three judges at the Court of Appeal in Melbourne will hear two appeals: Patterson's attempt to overturn her conviction and the prosecution's demand for a stiffer sentence.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
The uniforms of the new cadets are stiffer and cheaper than his own; no longer do they have access to live ammunition for marksmanship.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
In a culture of aggregation and AI summary, the stiffest original thinking still feels as supple as a tone poem, and genuine intellectual ambition akin to a secular miracle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
Over the next couple of weeks, the stock market will face some of the stiffest seasonal headwinds of the entire year.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026
Tarrant's penalty of life imprisonment without parole was the stiffest in New Zealand history.
From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026
Some of the stiffest competition at the Masters happens in the shops.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
A Welch High School display of plant fossils found in coal mines seemed our stiffest competition.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Ditto the overall vibe of rumpled, boozy Los Angeles noir, pitting the wealthy and sinister against the beaten-down but mostly noble working stiffs who make up Perry and his peers.
From New York Times ● Mar. 6, 2023
He repeatedly stiffs contractors and vendors and his namesake company was convicted of tax fraud just last month.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2022
Let’s say they’re stiffs and they’re stupid people, and they say, ‘Well, we really have no choice.’
From Washington Post ● Dec. 6, 2022
Iceland has achieved the holy grail for working stiffs: same pay for shorter hours.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2021
"Just between ourselves, Blore, and taking into account that we'll probably both be a couple of stiffs before another day is out, you did indulge in that spot of perjury, I suppose?"
From "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie
The military and House staffers get stiffed next week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
DuBon had been stiffed on a painting job a few weeks earlier — an employer simply refused to pay — and started going to Casa Latina instead of Home Depot.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 8, 2024
But when he asked the court for reimbursement, he got stiffed.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2023
Thousands of private vendors who supplied the state with goods and services got stiffed after July 1.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2023
The biggest event Suffolk had seen in years was a traveling sideshow that came through town on the railroad tracks, with a stiffed whale in a boxcar.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
Any reform plan from a committee would still require lawmakers to cast a difficult vote exposing them to charges of overtaxing working Americans or stiffing retirees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
“Under Musk’s control, Twitter has become a scofflaw, stiffing employees, landlords, vendors, and others,” says the lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Northern District of California.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 4, 2024
It also happened to be a gift to anyone stiffing Uncle Sam.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 11, 2022
Cohen was his consigliere, the tough street lawyer whose job, he says, was stiffing Trump’s business partners and burying his scandals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2020
“If you’re not getting commissions, Becker’s stiffing you.”
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Vocabulary lists containing stiff
Engineering - Introductory
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Civil Engineering
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Engineering - Middle School
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