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Another word for stiffen

a-z
Verb

  1. To make stiff or stiffer

    See also:

    flexible

  2. To make or become tense

    See also:

    tighten

© Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Another word for stiffen

Verb

  1. To grow stiff

      1. To become crystalline in form
      2. (Intransitive) to take a definite form
      3. To give a definite, precise, and usually permanent form to:
      1. To cook, preserve, saturate, or coat with sugar or syrup:
      2. (Intransitive) To be formed into candy; to solidify in a candylike form or mass.
      3. (Intransitive) To have sugar crystals form in or on.
      1. To keep company; see socially. Often used with out.
      2. To pass time idly; loiter. Often used with out.
      3. To become cold or set:
      1. To cover or fill with a thick layer, as of compacted matter:
      2. To become formed into a compact or crusty mass:
      3. To form into a hard mass or a crust; solidify or encrust
      1. To thicken, as by evaporation; condense
      2. To undergo thickening or cause to thicken, as by boiling or evaporation; condense.
      1. To stop functioning properly, usually temporarily:
      2. To stop consumer production or use of (a critical material), as in wartime
      3. To chill with an icy or formal manner:
      1. To become spoiled or transformed into something bad:
      2. To cause a liquid to spoil and form clumps so that it no longer flows smoothly
      3. (Intransitive) To form curds so that it no longer flows smoothly; to cause to form such curds. (usually said of milk)
      1. To restore to a proper and normal state when dislocated or broken:
      2. To put in a specified position or arrangement; place:
      3. To apply jewels to; stud:
      1. To become more dense or compact.
      2. To change (a substance) to a denser form, as from a gas to a liquid
      3. (Chem.) To cause molecules of (the same or different substances) to combine to form a more complex compound, often with elimination of a simple molecule, as water
      1. To solidify or coagulate:
      2. To cause to solidify or coagulate:
      3. To cause to come together to form a whole or produce a result:
      1. To concentrate; consolidate.
      2. To make or become solid, firm, hard, compact, etc.
      3. (Intransitive) To become solid; to freeze.
      1. To become coagulated
      2. To become coagulated:
      3. To cause transformation of (a liquid or sol, for example) into or as if into a soft, semisolid, or solid mass.
      1. To form into a clot or clots; coagulate:
      2. To fill or cover with or as if with clots.
      3. To cause to clot or form into a mass.
      1. To strengthen; to confirm.
      2. To make or become more intense, intricate, or complex:
      3. (Intransitive) To become thicker (in the sense of wider).
      1. To acquire the consistency of jelly:
      2. To become jelly
      3. To coat, fill, or serve with jelly
      1. To become a gel.
      2. To form a gel
      3. To take shape or become clear:
      1. To become or make into jelly.
      2. (Rare) To change into jelly
      3. (Dated, intransitive) To form a jelly; to gel.
    See also:

    harden

    Antonyms:

  2. To cause to become stiff

      1. To represent as greater or more important than is in fact the case:
      2. To increase or raise beyond what is normal or valid
      3. To blow full or swell out as with air or gas; distend; expand; dilate
      1. To return to use, currency, activity, or notice:
      2. To regain health, vigor, or good spirits:
      3. To come or bring back into use or attention
      1. To impart vigor, strength, or vitality to.
      2. To give vigor to; fill with energy; enliven
      3. To give life or energy to.
      1. (Intransitive) To grow strong or stronger.
      2. To become strong or stronger.
      3. To animate; to give moral strength to; to encourage; to fix in resolution; to hearten.
      1. To change (a liquid or solid) into vapor; drive out or draw off in the form of vapor
      2. To remove moisture from (milk, vegetables, fruits, etc.) by heating or drying so as to get a concentrated product
      3. To deposit (a metal, metallic salts, etc.) by sublimation
      1. (Meteorol.) To condense (water vapor) and cause to fall to the ground as rain, snow, sleet, etc.
      2. To separate as a solid from a solution in chemical precipitation.
      3. (Chem.) To cause (a slightly soluble substance) to become insoluble, as by heat or by a chemical reagent, and separate out from a solution
      1. To put into a stable or unalterable form:
      2. To cause (atmospheric nitrogen) to combine with other elements or compounds to form nitrates, ammonia, etc.
      3. To restore to proper condition or working order; repair:
      1. To cover or coat with cement.
      2. To join or unite with or as with cement
      3. To bind with or as if with cement.
      1. To sustain or bolster
      2. To support, hold up, or hold in place with or as with a prop
      3. To support by placing something beneath or against; shore up.
      1. To support or hold steady with or as if with a brace; reinforce.
      2. To get a firm hold with (the hands or feet)
      3. (Naut.) To move (a yard) by means of a brace
      1. To become set in a rigidly conventional pattern:
      2. To settle or fix rigidly in a practice, custom, attitude, etc.
      3. To change or develop into bone
      1. To paralyze or make numb, as with fear; stupefy; stun
      2. To replace the normal cells of (organic matter) with silica or other mineral deposits; re-form as a stony substance
      3. To cause to lose vitality or become impervious to change; deaden:
      1. To stiffen with or as if with starch
      1. To strengthen or harden.
      2. To heat (glass, metals, etc.) and then cool, sometimes slowly, to prevent brittleness
      3. To subject (glass or metal) to a process of heating and slow cooling in order to toughen and reduce brittleness.
      1. To deaden the mind, will, or feelings of
      2. To make numb, especially by cold.
      3. To render senseless or inactive, as from shock or boredom:
      1. To take on a disapproving or severe appearance:
      2. To rise and become stable. Used of prices.
      3. To become solid, rigid, callous, etc.
    Antonyms:
© WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Sentence Examples

  • There is also in large bridges wind-bracing to stiffen the structure against horizontal forces.

  • When these two powers quarrelled after the peace of Nicias it remained loyal to the Spartans; but the latter thought it prudent to stiffen the oligarchic government against a nascent democratic movement.

  • The barbs possess further branches called the barbules, and adjacent barbules are attached to one another by hooks which stiffen the vane.

  • Adding a little groundbait or some crushed hemp or pellet to stiffen the mix as I did is the easiest solution.

  • The roots of this plant were collected in Elizabethan times for their high starch content, which was used to stiffen fashionable linen ruffs.

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Words that mention stiffen in the Dictionary

Words near stiffen in the Thesaurus