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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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that the loss of the servicemembers would stiffen the U.S.’s resolve.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
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
As these weaken and stiffen over time it can affect walking, talking, eating and breathing.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 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
The sight seemed to stiffen his resolve, and he nodded.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
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
This arrangement stiffens the chain of bones and allows it to transmit very high-pitched sounds more efficiently, a characteristic often seen in animals such as echolocating bats that can detect ultrasound.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2026
As Martin, Charles stiffens himself and keeps his facial expressions generally between neutral and annoyed, though he’s softer than Clunes, less a prisoner of his own body, less abrasive, less otherworldly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2026
Her grip on my knee stiffens and her mouth freezes into a thin line.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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
Europe’s spine stiffened in part because 2025 exceeded expectations economically, says Jeremie Peloso, chief European strategist at BCA Research.
From Barron's ● Mar. 7, 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
Anna May stiffened but she didn’t pull away.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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
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
Because microtubules can influence how stiff the cytoplasm is, the researchers asked whether asters might help anchor the actin band by stiffening the cell interior.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 28, 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
But it was not hostility, exactly; merely a kind of wariness, a momentary stiffening, as at the passing of some unfamiliar animal.
From "1984" by George Orwell
Vocabulary lists containing stiffen
