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Strength vs Stiff - What's the difference?

strength | stiff |

As nouns the difference between strength and stiff

is that strength is the quality or degree of being strong while stiff is an average person, usually male, of no particular distinction, skill, or education, often a working stiff''''' or ''lucky '''stiff .

As verbs the difference between strength and stiff

is that strength is (obsolete) to give strength to; to strengthen while stiff is to fail to pay that which one owes (implicitly or explicitly) to another, especially by departing hastily.

As an adjective stiff is

of an object, rigid, hard to bend, inflexible.

strength

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The quality or degree of being strong.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
    • Our castle's strength will laugh a siege to scorn.
  • * , chapter=5
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength —all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.}}
  • The intensity of a force or power; potency.
  • * 1699 , , Heads designed for an essay on conversations
    • Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
  • The strongest part of something; that on which confidence or reliance is based.
  • * Bible, (Psalms) xlvi. 1
    • God is our refuge and strength .
  • * (Jeremy Taylor) (1613–1677)
    • Certainly there is not a greater strength against temptation.
  • A positive attribute.
  • (obsolete) A strong place; a stronghold.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Synonyms

    * fortitude * power * ability * capability * potency * expertise

    Antonyms

    * (The quality of being strong) weakness * (A positive attribute) weakness

    Derived terms

    * bond strength * compressive strength * crushing strength * dielectic strength * fatigue strength * field strength * full-strength * impact strength * industrial-strength * inner strength * ionic strength * party strength * pillar of strength * relative strength * shear strength * strengthen * strengthening * strengthful * strengthless * strengthy * superstrength * tensile strength * tower of strength * ultimate strength * understrength * wet strength * yield strength

    Related terms

    * strong * strongly

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To give strength to; to strengthen.
  • * 1395 , (John Wycliffe), Bible , Job IV:
    • Lo! thou hast tau?t ful many men, and thou hast strengthid hondis maad feynt.
    (Chaucer)

    Statistics

    * English words suffixed with -th

    stiff

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Of an object, rigid, hard to bend, inflexible.
  • *
  • *:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff , retroussé moustache.
  • (lb) Of policies and rules and their application and enforcement, inflexible.
  • Of a person, formal in behavior, unrelaxed.
  • (lb) Harsh, severe.
  • :
  • Of muscles, or parts of the body, painful, as a result of excessive, or unaccustomed exercise.
  • :
  • Potent.
  • :
  • Dead, deceased.
  • Of a penis, erect.

    • Quotations

    * (English Citations of "stiff")

    Derived terms

    * stiffy

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An average person, usually male, of no particular distinction, skill, or education, often a working stiff''''' or ''lucky '''stiff .
    • A Working Stiff' s Manifesto: A Memoir of Thirty Jobs I Quit, Nine That Fired Me, and Three I Can't Remember was published in 2003.
  • A person who is deceived, as a mark or pigeon in a swindle.
    • She convinced the stiff to go to her hotel room, where her henchman was waiting to rob him.
  • (slang) A cadaver, a dead person.
  • (US) A person who leaves (especially a restaurant) without paying the bill.
  • Any hard hand where it is possible to exceed 21 by drawing an additional card.

    • See also

    * bindlestiff * See also ,

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fail to pay that which one owes (implicitly or explicitly) to another, especially by departing hastily.
    • Realizing he had forgotten his wallet, he stiffed the taxi driver when the cab stopped for a red light.
  • * 1946 , William Foote Whyte, Industry and Society , page 129
    • We asked one girl to explain how she felt when she was "stiffed ." She said, You think of all the work you've done and how you've tried to please [them…].
  • * 1992 , Stephen Birmingham, Shades of Fortune , page 451
    • You see, poor Nonie really was stiffed' by Adolph in his will. He really ' stiffed her , Rose, and I really wanted to right that wrong.
  • * 2007 , Mary Higgins Clark, I Heard That Song Before , page 154
    • Then he stiffed the waiter with a cheap tip.

    Anagrams

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