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
This summer, Slegers has strengthened her hand with seven new players, including full-back Ona Batlle, Caldentey's compatriot, and England dynamo Georgia Stanway to stiffen midfield.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
If Powell stays, that arithmetic becomes even harder, and it could stiffen the resolve of other governors whose terms run beyond Powell’s, said Wilcox.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 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
She saw him stiffen himself all over as he leveled and took aim.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
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
When the cell enters the next interphase and the asters reform, the cytoplasm stiffens again and stabilizes the band.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 28, 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
Here, there’s actually a very good doom metal electronic score by John Murphy and David Fleming, but the movie stiffens up whenever it needs to get real.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2025
We stand there until her body stiffens and she pulls away.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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
Johnson’s move appears to have stiffened investors’ spines.
From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026
Her roles in the 1950s diminished in plausibility, and Crawford’s acting stiffened into rigid self-presentation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
Every time a person got close, he held his breath and stiffened every muscle in his body.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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
The inquest was told rigor mortis - the stiffening of the body after death - had set in.
From BBC ● Mar. 20, 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
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’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
