INFLEXIBILITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does inflexibility mean? 

• INFLEXIBILITY (noun)
  The noun INFLEXIBILITY has 2 senses:

1. a lack of physical flexibility

2. the quality of being rigid and rigorously severe

  Familiarity information: INFLEXIBILITY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INFLEXIBILITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A lack of physical flexibility

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

inflexibility; inflexibleness

Hypernyms ("inflexibility" is a kind of...):

rigidity; rigidness (the physical property of being stiff and resisting bending)

Antonym:

flexibility (the property of being flexible; easily bent or shaped)

Derivation:

inflexible (resistant to being bent)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of being rigid and rigorously severe

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

inflexibility; rigidity; rigidness

Hypernyms ("inflexibility" is a kind of...):

unadaptability (the inability to change or be changed to fit changed circumstances)

Antonym:

flexibility (the quality of being adaptable or variable)

Derivation:

inflexible (incapable of change)

inflexible (not making concessions)

inflexible (incapable of adapting or changing to meet circumstances)

 Context examples 

A disorder characterized by an enduring pattern of inflexibility, extreme orderliness, and perfectionism which interfere with efficiency and which may manifest in many different contexts, including work and leisure activities, financial matters, and issues of morality or ethics.

(Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)

Stiffness or inflexibility.

(Muscular Rigidity, NCI Thesaurus)

There was an inflexibility in her face, in her voice, in her gait and carriage, amply sufficient to account for the effect she had made upon a gentle creature like my mother; but her features were rather handsome than otherwise, though unbending and austere.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)