stiffening

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.

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

Still, I can feel the wall of kids stiffening around me.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman