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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This approach enabled us to create a material that can bend, buckle, or stiffen differently under slow movements versus sudden impacts -- without electronics, sensors, or active control.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 11, 2026
"He'd started to stiffen because he had been there for so long, dead, with no-one noticing. It's horrific to think someone's loved one died with no one near them."
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
These are, Mr. Freymann writes, “tempting targets,” but seizing them could stiffen the resolve of Taiwan and its Western friends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 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
Struts and diagonal rods ran between the two wheels to stiffen the assembly and give it the strength of a railroad bridge.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
The illness causes breathing difficulties and creates scar tissue that stiffens the lungs, making it difficult to breathe and for oxygen to enter the bloodstream.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 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
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
He takes a step toward me, and suddenly, his body stiffens.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
Others argued the particles stiffened the surrounding material like glue.
From Science Daily ● May 13, 2026
And sure enough, as UConn’s shots started falling and its defense stiffened against Boozer’s attacks, the deficit narrowed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 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
Charlie stiffened, stared straight ahead and rattled off the formula.
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
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 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
Technicians periodically check in on a patient shortly after surgery to quickly probe the new organ and look for signs of stiffening and potential acute failure or rejection.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 9, 2024
His burned hand was stiffening up on him, and soon it began to ache.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Vocabulary lists containing stiffen
