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Glite Dictionary
🧊 To make firm 🚫 To make stricter
to stiffen

to stiffen

1 4.8
To make a rule or law stricter
  • verb
  • /ˈstɪfən/
translation icon : endurecer
  • New laws were enacted that stiffened penalties for traffic violations.

Examples

  • The government has stiffened regulations on emissions to combat climate change.

  • He suggests stiffening congressional oversight procedures and developing longer tenure among senior civilian appointees in the executive branch.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Drunk driving was declining before penalties were stiffened.

    Blog text (20)

  • As to the former, Vawter stiffened the contract with the towns to be visited.

    Academic text (2001)

  • The Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 stiffened anti-water pollution laws and, in 1975, included wetlands protection.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Other steps to strengthen the NPT could include stiffening inspection and enforcement provisions and making withdrawal from the treaty an automatic trigger for international action.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The PRC further rejected calls for new concessions and instead stiffened its provisions in the draft of the Basic Law, adding a clause against subversion.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The administration came into office scoffing at Clinton's "appeasement" of North Korea, and soon stiffened its hard-line stance further by including Pyongyang in the "axis of evil."

    Academic text (2003)

  • After the incident, the school stiffened its policies on bullying and harassment.

Synonyms

to tighten
vsto stiffen
93 3.5

To make rules or limits stricter

has identical meaning but is the basic verb form
to harden
vsto stiffen
27 2.6

Make something hard or solid

is used for making rules more strict rather than physical hardening
to tighten up
vsto stiffen
  • Informal
9 4.4

To make rules or limits stricter

is the basic verb form rather than the phrasal version
to rigidify
vsto stiffen
1 8.2

To make something stiff and unable to bend or change

applies specifically to making rules or regulations more restrictive

Antonyms

to loosen
83 3.3

Make rules or limits less strict

to relax
26 3.2

To make rules less strict

How Strict

to harden
  • Specialized
8 7.2
to tighten
93 3.5
to stiffen
1 4.8
to loosen
83 3.3

Surface Forms

stiffen infinitive
stiffened past
stiffened past participle
stiffening present participle
stiffens third person singular

Morphology

stiffen = stiff (semi-transparent) = stiff + en

While the morphological structure is clear, the metaphorical extension to rules or regulations is not immediately obvious.

Etymology

Stiffen uses the same parts stiff + -en but for rules or actions, meaning to 'make stiff' in a non-physical way. That's why to stiffen a rule is to make it less flexible or more strict.