Noun stiffness has 4 senses
- stiffness - the physical property of being inflexible and hard to bend
--1 is a kind of inelasticity
- stiffness - the property of moving with pain or difficulty; "he awoke with a painful stiffness in his neck"
--2 is a kind of awkwardness, clumsiness
- awkwardness, clumsiness, gracelessness, stiffness - the inelegance of someone stiff and unrelaxed (as by embarrassment)
--3 is a kind of inelegance
--3 has particulars: rusticity, gaucherie
- severity, harshness, rigor, rigour, inclemency, hardness, stiffness - excessive sternness; "severity of character"; "the harshness of his punishment was inhuman"; "the rigors of boot camp"
--4 is a kind of sternness, strictness
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