stiff-arming

verb

present participle of stiff-arm
as in isolating
to deliberately ignore or treat rudely in his sad and lonely old age, he stiff-armed even once-beloved friends

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of stiff-arming The next game, stiff-arming guys. — Sean Joseph Outkick, FOXNews.com, 27 May 2026 After stiff-arming challengers on the front 9, Cink played free and easy. — Jay Paris, Oc Register, 30 Mar. 2026 The 24-song set reeled in an impressive 280,000 equivalent album units, stiff-arming a surging Bad Bunny from pole position. — Carl Lamarre, Billboard, 19 Feb. 2026 Indiana kept its circle tight and held its belief tighter, stiff-arming infiltrators and doubters with equal authority. — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 20 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stiff-arming
  1. isolating
  2. rejecting
  3. snubbing
  4. repulsing
  5. cutting
  6. repelling
  7. slighting
Verb
  • That would target true luxury by isolating the top 5% of the market, and would shield the vital professional class that keeps NYC’s economy, healthcare systems and businesses running.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Reduced access to such resources is especially dangerous with strains like Bundibugyo – in the absence of an effective vaccine, tracing the spread of disease and isolating potential disease contacts is especially important.
    — Ananya Rupanagunta, Vox, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of isolating
Verb
  • Unlike municipalities Uthmeier threatened after rejecting the agreements, these local governments have not formally accepted or rejected a 287(g) collaboration.
    — Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 27 Oct. 2026
  • And filmmakers building outside Hollywood’s traditional gates aren’t rejecting the business.
    — Chaseedaw Giles, IndieWire, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of rejecting
Verb
  • However, when one of the three women feels guilty about snubbing their lifelong pal, Mel shows up and suddenly the weekend turns to complete chaos, tempting the trio to break free from the madness that has hobbled their friend group for years.
    — Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Yet no one hauled him before Congress to answer for stoking racial tensions, snubbing George Washington, or making America sad on her birthday.
    — Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of snubbing
Verb
  • While there are dismemberments and other bits of gruesome violence to be found in the film, Badlands is largely aimed at endearing its audience rather than repulsing them.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 4 Nov. 2025
Definition of repulsing
Verb
  • Leslie took issue with a recent stunt Kennedy had pulled at the hospital, which involved making a surprise appearance for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open his signature vaccine injury clinic.
    — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Stephanie Keith | Bloomberg | Getty Images American Express is cutting thousands of employees as the leading credit card company prepares for artificial intelligence to take over more of its internal processes.
    — Hugh Son, CNBC, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of cutting
Verb
  • The patent-pending fabric technology delivers the comfort and insulation of traditional sherpa while actively repelling hay, straw, mulch and grass from clinging to the high-pile fleece.
    — Angela Velasquez, Footwear News, 20 Oct. 2026
  • The most water-repelling plastics, polyethylene and polypropylene, were the most reactive, and PET and acrylic were the least reactive.
    — Emily Kay Votruba, EverydayHealth.com, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of repelling
Verb
  • Yet what follows is an extended list of ethical sins, with a focus on the sins of abusive speech, such as slandering, slurring, slighting and smearing the reputations of others.
    — Reuven Kimelman, The Conversation, 18 Sep. 2026
  • But in discharging this function, poets are in danger of slighting another imperative, namely, to redress poetry as poetry, to set it up as its own category, an eminence established and a pressure exercised by distinctly linguistic means.
    — Nick Laird, The New York Review of Books, 25 Apr. 2026
Definition of slighting

Browse Nearby Words

stiff-armed
stiff-arming
stiff-arms
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Stiff-arming.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stiff-arming. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of grotesque

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All