STIFFLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does stiffly mean? 

• STIFFLY (adverb)
  The adverb STIFFLY has 2 senses:

1. in a stiff manner

2. in a rigid manner

  Familiarity information: STIFFLY used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STIFFLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In a stiff manner

Synonyms:

stiff; stiffly

Context example:

his hands lay stiffly

Pertainym:

stiff (not moving or operating freely)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In a rigid manner

Synonyms:

bolt; rigidly; stiffly

Context example:

he sat bolt upright

Pertainym:

stiff (incapable of or resistant to bending)

 Context examples 

After sitting for a moment in silence, she said very stiffly to Elizabeth, I hope you are well, Miss Bennet.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Maud and I worked from dawn till dark, to the limit of our strength, so that when night came we crawled stiffly to bed and slept the animal-like sleep of exhaustion.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Her face was covered with wrinkles, her hair was nearly white, and she walked rather stiffly.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Janet looked a little surprised to see me lying stiffly on the sofa (I was afraid to move lest it should be displeasing to my aunt), but went on her errand.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Mrs. Ferrars looked exceedingly angry, and drawing herself up more stiffly than ever, pronounced in retort this bitter philippic, "Miss Morton is Lord Morton's daughter."

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

He merely sprang to the side and ran stiffly ahead for several awkward leaps, in carriage and conduct resembling an abashed country swain.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

We were both of us capsized in a second, and both of us rolled, almost together, into the scuppers, the dead red-cap, with his arms still spread out, tumbling stiffly after us.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Amy followed, but she poked her hands out stiffly before her, and jerked herself along as if she went by machinery, and her Ow! was more suggestive of pins being run into her than of fear and anguish.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He bore himself a bit stiffly at first, oppressed by a sense of his own awkwardness, especially of his shoulders, which were up to their old trick of threatening destruction to furniture and ornaments.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

All eyes met her with a glance of eager curiosity, and she met all eyes with one of rebuff and coldness; she looked neither flurried nor merry: she walked stiffly to her seat, and took it in silence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)