stiff-arm

1 of 2

verb

stiff-armed; stiff-arming; stiff-arms

transitive verb

1
2
: to treat with disdain or neglect : slight, snub

stiff-arm

2 of 2

noun

Examples of stiff-arm in a Sentence

Verb in his sad and lonely old age, he stiff-armed even once-beloved friends
Recent Examples on the Web
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.
Verb
Pearsall turned upfield and raced Antoine Winfield Jr. down the sideline, stiff-arming the Tampa Bay safety and fighting off his tackle to reach the end zone just before being hauled out of bounds. Michael Nowels, The Mercury News, 10 Nov. 2024 In fact, the ghosting of Biden may have to become a stiff-arm from Harris herself in these final days if her bid to block Trump is to have even odds. Philip Elliott, TIME, 31 Oct. 2024 During the eighth day of training camp, Estime received a handoff before delivering a vicious stiff-arm on edge rusher Thomas Incoom near the sideline, generating a handful of cheers from the Broncos faithful on the berm. Ryan McFadden, The Denver Post, 11 Aug. 2024 Earlier in practice, Latu struggled to shed Yiadom’s stiff-arm on a run play. Cam Inman, The Mercury News, 2 Aug. 2024 In the midst of the brouhaha, there was Lorentz stiff-arming a pair of Oilers — Philip Broberg with his right arm, Brown with his left. Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 10 June 2024 What Preller has been able to do since has been a marvel of creativity, farm system maintenance, financial two-stepping and thinking that stiff-arms impossible. Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 May 2024 Russia for now appears to be stiff-arming the idea of nonproliferation talks with Washington, citing U.S. support for Ukraine, even as the sole remaining arms control agreement between the U.S. and Russia – the New START Treaty – will expire in February 2026. Sarah Matusek, The Christian Science Monitor, 2 May 2024 Users on social media were quick to compare the move to an NFL stiff-arm. Michael McGough, Sacramento Bee, 20 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Verb

1909, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Noun

1927, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of stiff-arm was in 1909

Dictionary Entries Near stiff-arm

Cite this Entry

“Stiff-arm.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stiff-arm. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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