the physical property of being inflexible and hard to bend

the property of moving with pain or difficulty; he awoke with a painful stiffness in his neck'

firm resoluteness in purpose or opinion or action; a charming host without any touch of stiffness or pomposity'

the inelegance of someone stiff and unrelaxed (as by embarrassment)

[ Syn: awkwardness , clumsiness , gracelessness ]

excessive sternness; severity of character; the harshness of his punishment was inhuman; the rigors of boot camp

[ Syn: severity , severeness , harshness , rigor , rigour , rigorousness , rigourousness , inclemency , hardness ]