stuffy
31
5.6
- adjective
- /ˈstʌfi/
- Informal
- As always, we had rehearsed on Wednesday evening in the high school's stuffy but adequate ensemble practice room.
- stuffy old
- stuffy, pretentious
- stuffy and boring
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Watch on YouTubeHe's not one of these stuffy sorts who is in the, you know, the ivory tower, as we say.
- He's not one of these stuffy sorts who is in the, you know, the ivory tower, as we say.
- I mean, 'cause they're just stuffy New Englanders, you know, you know, separated from Europeans and everything.
Examples
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This is a stuffy, snobbish town.
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It's formal but not too stuffy.
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It's a little stuffy for my taste, but...
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Does Julian seem a little stuffy to you?
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The officers laugh, but Bala looks bored in this stuffy social scene.
Fiction book (1998) -
He is a little stuffy, isn't he?
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He was a somewhat stuffy, well-dressed St. Louis son of a good family gone wrong.
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Bookending her adventure are scenes in which stuffy bureaucrats sit around deciding her fate.
Blog text (6) -
So old-fashioned, so stuffy.
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The conference was interesting, but the discussions felt a bit stuffy and outdated.
Synonyms
169
1.3
Not interesting or lively
10
6.5
Old and not interesting because it has no new ideas
9
7.8
Dull and old-fashioned, not interesting or new
Antonyms
Compounds
How Stuffy
Surface Forms
Etymology
Stuffy comes from stuff which means 'to fill'. Think of a person 'filled' with old rules and ideas so there is no room for new ones, so stuffy means 'too formal' or old-fashioned and dull.