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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Depending on the situation, the material can bend, buckle, or stiffen in different ways, all without electronics, sensors, or active control systems.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 11, 2026
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said that young people should stiffen their spines and embrace hardship.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 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
Calling the eradication of extortion “one of the great challenges” facing Mexico, Sheinbaum pledged to bolster enforcement, stiffen penalties and increase safeguards for anyone receiving threats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2025
He saw Lem’s jaws stiffen, his face grow sullen.
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
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
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
And I can't talk, but I tap lightly on Alicia's cane, and she stiffens, then smiles slightly, and motions with her head and eyebrows, urging me to get going.
From "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clements
Others argued the particles stiffened the surrounding material like glue.
From Science Daily ● May 13, 2026
“But the cat stiffened and I stiffened whenever anybody moved, aware of all the possible lives being lived around us.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 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
The barrels -- bound tightly with rope, their fabric skins stiffened and darkened with lacquer -- inevitably recall the Gulf's vast hydrocarbon wealth.
From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026
His posture stiffened as my words appeared to sink in.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
IPF is a chronic, progressive lung disease characterized by irreversible scarring and stiffening of lung tissue.
From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 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
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
Further analysis showed that the discs from diabetic rats exhibited a stiffening of collagen fibrils, with a higher concentration of non-enzymatic cross-links.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 13, 2024
“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
