stiffen

"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

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

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

Emma felt the old lady behind her stiffen at the words “facial rec.”

From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

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

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

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

Johnson’s move appears to have stiffened investors’ spines.

From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 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

Throughout Fernlight Forest, animals stiffened, looked toward Deadwood, and thought, Hesterfowl’s premonition is coming to pass.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

The results do not establish that better fitness directly prevented arterial stiffening.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026

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

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

Papa didn’t get mad much, but Hanako could see tension building in his face, in his stiffening body.

From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata