wooden
12
5.1
- adjective
- /ˈwʊdən/
- His wooden demeanor during the presentation made it difficult to engage the audience.
- wooden face
- wooden performance
- wooden character
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Watch on YouTubeI felt that he was a bit, he was a bit wooden.
- I felt that he was a bit, he was a bit wooden.
- I mean, I like to think I'm not a very wooden person, but at the same time, I mean, I didn't see the Barbie movie.
- Swipe in the morning, comes next to keep the headache at Bay, to moisten his wooden tongue, to steady his shaking hands.
Examples
-
Your characters are wooden, Joe.
-
Its voice was trapped within its body; it sounded wooden and unresponsive, like a cello wrapped in a cocoon.
Fiction book (1996) -
Is it just me, or is there something kind of wooden about this chick?
-
His face was wooden with loss; the child was too young for anything but confusion and fear.
Fiction book (2002) -
If I seem wooden, it's only because I'm havin' a little trouble understanding what your purpose is here, Joe.
-
Her lips press together and she stiffens herself within, growing wooden and silent.
Fiction book (1998) -
His boyhood friend's face was wooden, uncomprehending, and the words came stiffly from his lips.
Fiction book (1993) -
For me, they behave like so many plush puppets, splendidly accoutered but nonetheless wooden.
Academic text (2008) -
Despite his extensive training, his speech came across as wooden, lacking any genuine emotion.
-
Many people found her acting to be too wooden, making it hard to connect with her character.
Synonyms
1
7.9
Stiff and hard like a flat piece of wood
Antonyms
Compounds
- Literature
1
8.1
A large hollow wooden figure of a horse that hides soldiers so they can enter a city
- UK
1
4.0
A prize often a small wooden object for the person or team finishing last in a competition
How Stiff
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Wooden also grew a second meaning by comparing people to wood: because wood is hard and does not move easily, a 'wooden' person or smile is 'stiff' and 'awkward'. So when a performance or expression is wooden, it feels unnatural and not lively.