Stilted - English meaning

adjective

Made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a copy of something natural.

Usage examples:

Her skin glowed in the artificial light

adjective

Made by people, often as a copy of something natural

Usage examples:

Artificial flowers, artificial grass, an artificial leg, an artificial smile, the actors were encou…

adjective

Not sincere

Usage examples:

Their cheerfulness seemed rather strained and artificial.

adjective

Causing difficulty; hard to do or deal with.

Usage examples:

Some awkward questions

adjective

Appearing forced or overly controlled.

Usage examples:

He was acting in a constrained manner

verb

Compel or force (someone) to follow a particular course of action.

Usage examples:

Children are constrained to work in the way the book dictates

adjective

Deliberately created rather than arising naturally or spontaneously.

Usage examples:

Here, however, several contrived situations are grafted into the plot to generate artificial tension.

verb

Create or bring about (an object or a situation) by deliberate use of skill and artifice.

Usage examples:

His opponents contrived a cabinet crisis

adjective

Obtained or imposed by coercion or physical power.

Usage examples:

There was no sign of a forced entry

verb

Make a way through or into by physical strength; break open by force.

Usage examples:

The back door of the bank was forced

adjective

Involving physical, often violent, strength or power

Usage examples:

There were no obvious signs of forced entry into the house., the plane made a forced landing in den…

adjective

Requiring considerable time and effort.

Usage examples:

Years of laborious training

adjective

Done with great effort and difficulty.

Usage examples:

His breathing was laboured

verb

Work hard; make great effort.

Usage examples:

They laboured from dawn to dusk

adjective

Needing a lot of effort, often because someone is tired

Usage examples:

Her breathing was heavy and laboured., a laboured joke

adjective

Behaving in a specified way.

Usage examples:

Bad-mannered

adjective

Having ways of behaving toward people

Usage examples:

The children are well mannered., he continued to write, but his mannered prose was not well received.

Aware of yourself as an individual or of your own being

adjective

Feeling undue awareness of oneself, one's appearance, or one's actions.

Usage examples:

I feel a bit self-conscious parking my scruffy old car

adjective

(especially of an action or intention) deliberate and with full awareness, especially affectedly so.

Usage examples:

Her self-conscious identification with the upper classes

adjective

Not easily bent or changed in shape; rigid.

Usage examples:

A stiff black collar

noun

A dead body.

Usage examples:

When the bodies of various stiffs start disappearing from the local morgue, the police are baffled …

verb

Cheat (someone) out of something, especially money.

Usage examples:

Several workers were stiffed out of their pay

adjective

Showing signs of nervous tension or tiredness.

Usage examples:

Jean's pale, strained face

verb

Force (a part of one's body or oneself) to make an unusually great effort.

Usage examples:

I stopped and listened, straining my ears for any sound

adjective

Nervous, worried, or having problems

Usage examples:

She had a strained expression on her face., a strained knee

adjective

Contrary to the ordinary course of nature; abnormal.

Usage examples:

Death by unnatural causes

adjective

Not found in nature; artificial

Usage examples:

Nothing unnatural or polluting can be used., the recordings have an unnatural sound.

adjective

Tense.

Usage examples:

I look tired and unrelaxed

adjective

Worried or not comfortable

Usage examples:

He's still tense and unrelaxed around new people., her head and shoulders were unrelaxed.

adjective

Made of wood.

Usage examples:

A wooden toy

adjective

Made of wood

Usage examples:

They ate at a long wooden table., she’s a wooden speaker.