Stiffen

Definition: Stiffen

Stiffen

Verb

1. Become stiff or stiffer; "He stiffened when he saw his boss enter the room".

2. Make stiff or stiffer; "Stiffen the cream by adding gelatine".

3. Restrict; "Tighten the rules"; "stiffen the regulations".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "stiffen" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1599. (references)

Synonyms: Stiffen

Hardness

Verb: render hard. Adjective: harden, stiffen, indurate, petrify, temper, ossify, vitrify; accrust.

Crosswords: Stiffen

Health

Eventually fibrosis can form, causing the lung to stiffen and making breathing even more difficult. (references)

In this disease, the walls of the ventricles stiffen and lose their flexibility due to infiltration by abnormal tissue. (references)

In adductor spasmodic dysphonia, sudden involuntary muscle movements or spasms cause the vocal folds (or vocal cords) to slam together and stiffen. (references)

Minorities

Hungary

Changes to the Penal Code have made it easier to enforce and stiffen penalties for hate crimes committed on the basis of the victim's ethnicity, race, or nationality. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expression using "stiffen": stiffen up. Additional references.

Albanian

shtohem (accrue, augment, breed, flare up, grow, multiply, proliferate, propagate, pullulate, swell, wax), rëndohet, ngurtësoj (congeal, harden, petrify, solidify), ngrij (chill, congeal, deepfreeze, feel cold, freeze, glaciate, grow numb, ice, refrigerate, solidify, turn blue), mpiks (cake, clot, coagulate, congeal). (various references)

Arabic 

‏قوى (anneal, be fortified, be more powerful, become mighty, become stronger, beefy, boost, brace, cogent, confirm, consolidate, enforce, fasten, fibrous, fortify, freshen, great, grow stronger, harden, hefty, heighten, help, heroic, in power, innervate, intensify, invigorate, nerve, prop, reinforce, sinew, strengthen, support, sustain, tighten), ‏قسى (braze, chill, harden, tighten, toughen), ‏تيبس (induration), ‏تصلب (indurate, intransigence, obstinacy, ossify, perseverance, persistence, shrivel, solidify, stubbornness), ‏صلب (adamant, aguish, callosity, callous, cast iron, concrete, consolidate, corneous, cross oneself, crucifixion, crucify, cruel, firm, harden, horny, inflexible, loin, metallic, out and out, persistent, ramrod, resistant, rigid, robust, sear, solid, solidary, stabile, stark, stiff, stubborn, temper, tenacious, tough, unkind, unyielding), ‏أصبح صارم. (various references)

Bulgarian 

усилвам (amplify, augment, exacerbate, exalt, exasperate, fortify, heighten, increase, intensify, magnify, nurse, piece in, potentiate, sharpen, strengthen, swell, tone up, zip), сгъстявам се (deepen, fix), колосвам (clearstarch, starch), втвърдявам се, наежвам се (bristle), правя по твърд, подсилвам (buttress, enforce, fortify, invigorate, punctuate, recruit, reinforce, strengthen, tone up, touch up, undergird). (various references)

Chinese 

變硬 , 僵住 (stiffened, stiffening). (various references)

Czech

ztuhnout (concrete, freeze, harden, petrify, solidify), zatvrdit se (harden one's heart), vyztužit, tvrdnout (bind), naškrobit (starch). (various references)

Finnish

lujittua (be strengthened, grow firmer, grow stable), kangistua (become stiff), kangistaa, köntistyä (grow numb with cold), jäykistyä (be stiff, become petrified), jäykistää (make stiff). (various references)

French

se raidir, renforcer (strengthen), raidir (strech), faire raidir, devenir ferme. (various references)

German

steif werden. (various references)

Greek 

σκληρύνω (calcify, harden, petrify, steel, toughen), σκληρύνομαι (calcify, toughen), γίνομαι άκαμπτοσ. (various references)

Hebrew 

ל�"תקשח, ל�"קשיח (harden, toughen), ל�"קשות (harden, toughen), לסמור (bristle, fasten, nail), לסמר (harden, nail, rivet). (various references)

Hungarian

megmerevít (to stiffen), megkeményít (harden, to harden, to sear, to sere, to stiffen, to toughen, toughen). (various references)

Indonesian

menegarkan (stiffen something). (various references)

Italian

irrigidirsi (freeze), irrigidire (become stiff, freeze, ruffle), indurirsi (bake, harden, toughen), indurire (case harden, harden, hardening, toughen), indolenzirsi. (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

肩肘張る (to stiffen, to swagger), 痼る (to harden, to stiffen), 引� める (to brace, to stiffen, to strain, to tighten), 引き� める (to brace, to stiffen, to strain, to tighten), 強張る (to stiffen), 凝る (to be a fanatic, to be absorbed in, to be devoted to, to congeal, to elaborate, to freeze, to grow stiff, to harden, to stiffen). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

し�"る (to harden, to stiffen), ひきしめる (to brace, to stiffen, to strain, to tighten), かたひじはる (to stiffen, to swagger), �"わばる (to stiffen). (various references)

Korean 

경직하십시�". (various references)

Manx

starkaghey (rigor, set, starch, starching), staayney (brazen, cessation, deny, forbear, forbearance, harden, oppose, refrain, self-denial, set against), reenaghey (rope, rope of beer, toughen, toughening), niartaghey (affirm, affirmation, brace, building up, cement, confirm, confirmation, consolidate, consolidation, documentation, extend, fortification, fortify, intensify, invigorate, nerve, reinforce, reinforcement, strengthen), jannoo roauyr, jannoo lajer, goll roauyr, creoiaghey (anneal, harden, hardening), creoi (adamant, bitter, bitter of frost, blistering, blistering as language, difficult, distressing, dry, hard, hard-boiled, hard-set, hardy, heartless, near, near with money, neat, obdurate, solid, steely, stiff, stubborn, tough). (various references)

Pig Latin

iffenstay

Portuguese

fortalecer (arm, beef up, brace, build up, confirm, consolidate, fortify, invigorate, nerve, reinforce, shore up, strengthen, toughen), firmar (base, cement, clench, confirm, consolidate, embed, enplane, fasten, firm, fix, guy, hoop, implant, joggle, key, nail, plant, rivet, root, secure, set, sign, stabilize, steady, underwrite), entorpecer (benumb, drug, dull, paralyse, stupefy, tingle), entesar (to swig), enrijecer, endurecer (bronze, cake, coarsen, harden, indurate, sear, set, toughen), emperrar, dar mais consistência a, aumentar (accrete, accrue, add, aggrandize, amplify, augment, develop, double, eke, enhance, enlarge, expand, explode, get about, go up, grow, heighten, increase, inflate, intensify, lengthen, magnify, mark up, raise, redouble, redound, rise, steepen, thicken, up, wax). (various references)

Romanian

se consolida (consolidate, firm, solidify, strengthen), se întãri (cake, firm, harden, intensify, recover tone, steady, toughen), se înţepeni, fixa (accommodate, adapt, adjust, affix, anchor, appoint, arrange, arrest, ascertain, assess, assign, attach, attune, bed, bind, bond, brace, clamp, clasp, define, determine, dog, establish, fasten, find, fit, fix, hitch, immobilize, impact, imprint, indicate, ingrain, lay, make fast, Mount, nail, nail down, name, nominate, pin, pin down, place, put on, recognize, regulate, schedule, secure, settle, stamp, state, stick, stipulate, strengthen, tie, trace, tune), consolida (bind, brace, bracket, confirm, consolidate, fix, fortify, fund, reinforce, rivet, secure, solidify, steady, strengthen), apreta (hot-press, starch, surface), anchiloza (anchylose, ankylose), amorţi (benumb, dull, numb, sleep, stupefy), întãri (bind, bond, brace, bracket, confirm, consolidate, corroborate, enforce, entrench, fix, fortify, harden, indurate, invigorate, nerve, recruit, reinforce, screw, season, stay, steady, steel, strengthen, stress, tone up), îndârji (embitter), înţepeni (fasten, fix, jam, set, shackle, stupefy, wedge). (various references)

Russian 

коченеть (grow numb). (various references)

Scottish

stalc (tie a fishing hook). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

ukrutiti. (various references)

Spanish

hacerse más rígido, hacer más rígido, endurecerse (cake, harden, pack, toughen, toughen up), endurecer (bake, bind, cake, harden, inure, ossify, sear, set, toughen, toughen up). (various references)

Swedish

styvna, stelna (Curdle, gel, grow stiff, harden, jell, ossify). (various references)

Thai

แข็งทื่อ (gaunt), ทำให้แข็งทื่อ. (various references)

Turkish

sertleştirmek (anneal, cure, harden, indurate, sharpen, size, solidify, steel, temper, toughen), sertleşmek (become hard, become tough, freshen, freshen up, get a hard on, harden, have a hard on, indurate, solidify, temper, tighten, tighten up, toughen), sabit kalmak (hold up, remain firm, steady), tutulmak (attack, attaint, be at a premium, be enamored of, be enamoured of, be held, be in a request, be smitten with, be stuck, be stuck on, be taken, be taken with, catch on, come in, come up, drop, go into, have a crush on smb., incur, indulge, make a hit, smite), pekiştirmek (cement, consolidate, establish, firm, harden, impact, intensify, reinforce, solidify), pekişmek (become hard, firm, set, solidify), kuvvetlendirmek (beef up, brace up, build up, confirm, fortify, hop up, intensify, recruit, strengthen, support), koyulaştırmak (coagulate, darken, deepen, enrich, intensify, thicken), kolalamak (clearstarch, starch), katılaştırmak (concrete, deaden, fixate, harden, indurate, ossify, sear, sinter, solidify, toughen), katılaşmak (be hardened, cake, concrete, congeal, set, solidify), kaskatı kesilmek, güçlenmek (become strong, grow stronger, wax strong), dengelenmek (balance, be balanced, be poised). (various references)

Ukrainian

клякнути (congeal), надавати в'язкості, надавати жорсткості, зміцнюватися, зміцнювати (afforce, back, consolidate, establish, fasten, recruit, re-enforce, steady). (various references)

Welsh

sythu (starve with cold, straighten), cyffio (fetter), anystwytho. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "stiffen": stiffened, stiffener, stiffeners, stiffening, stiffens. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Stiffen" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Staffon, stife, stiufen, Swinfen, tiffen. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: feints, finest, infest.

-2 letters: feint, feist, fiefs, fifes, fines, inset, neifs, neist, nites, senti, sniff, stein, stiff, teffs, tiffs, tines.

-3 letters: effs, efts, fens, fets, fief, fife, fine, fins, fist, fits, neif, nest, nets, nite, nits, seif, sent, sift, sine, site, snit, teff, tens, ties, tiff, tine, tins.

-4 letters: eff, efs, eft, ens, fen.

+1 letter: fifteens, stiffens.

+2 letters: sniffiest, snuffiest, stiffened, stiffener, stiffness, tiffanies.

+3 letters: affections, affinities, affixments, fifteenths, fitfulness, insufflate, offsetting, restaffing, restuffing, snuffliest, stiffeners, stiffening, stuffiness, sufficient.

+4 letters: afforesting, effeminates, insufflated, insufflates, stiffnesses.

+5 letters: affectations, coefficients, disaffecting, disaffection, effronteries, faithfulness, faultfinders, fitfulnesses, fruitfulness, fulfillments, inefficients, insufficient, interdiffuse, overstaffing, overstuffing, stuffinesses, sufficiently.