Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
stiffening

stiffening

1 4.9
Something becomes hard and less flexible, for example in joints or fabric
  • noun
  • /ˈstɪfənɪŋ/
: endurecimiento
  • So, you get this stiffening of the arteries, their inability to relax normally in half.
  • stiffening operation
  • stiffening procedures
  • palatal stiffening

And they are, they are rigid body and they have stiffening capabilities built into the outer skin of the aircraft.

Examples

  • The biological reasons for the differences in such stiffening effects need to be studied further.

    Academic text (1994)

  • In many patients, the shrinking, shortening, and stiffening of redundant tissues will decrease snoring.

    Academic text (1999)

  • But notice the stiffening effect shown by the increase in the slope of this curve.

  • I'm telling you, man, I felt a stiffening of the old resolve.

    A Walk in the Woods (2015)

  • Slight stiffening in the eye muscles, that's all.

    Xtinction: Predator X (2010)

  • Furthermore, their results did not demonstrate any distinct and consistent stiffening effects caused by muscular activities.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Our next goal was to examine the mechanisms underlying mesodermal stiffening in vivo.

    Academic text (2018)

  • Palatal stiffening procedures are also more convenient and more economical than their predecessors.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The doctor explained that the stiffening of the arteries can lead to serious health issues.

  • As the metal cooled, it underwent a stiffening process that made it less flexible.

Synonyms

hardening
vsstiffening
3 4.6

A change in a material when it becomes more solid

refers to stiffness rather than increased solidity or hardness
rigidification
vsstiffening
1 9.1

A process in which a material becomes stiff and hard to bend

focuses on natural change rather than active making
rigidifying
vsstiffening
8.6

A change that makes something stiff and hard so it cannot bend

is the same meaning but is a verb-derived form

Antonyms

softening
6 2.7

The process of becoming softer or less firm

relaxation
  • Specialized
2 3.6

A muscle becomes less tight and returns to a resting state

How Stiff

hardening
3 4.6
stiffening
1 4.9
loosening
4 3.4
relaxing
81 1.0

Surface Forms

stiffening singular
stiffening plural

Morphology

stiffening = stiffen (transparent) = stiff + en + ing

Formed by adding the productive verbalizing suffix '-en' to 'stiff' to make 'stiffen', then '-ing' to form the noun; each step is regular and meaning-preserving.

Etymology

Stiffening comes from the common word stiff, meaning 'not flexible', plus the verb-form -en, which means 'to make'. So stiffening is simply the process of becoming or making something 'stiff' or more rigid.