as in to isolate
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-arm
On the first one, Andrews punctuated a long catch by stiff-arming Wiggins.
—
Jeff Zrebiec, New York Times, 29 July 2025
There’s probably not a football fan alive who doesn’t love to see a ball carrier use a good stiff-arm to knock a defender to the ground.
—Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 1 Apr. 2025
Canada and Denmark currently offer a striking contrast in playbooks for responding to a suddenly hostile U.S. While Incoming Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is taking a stiff-arm tactic for the moment, others are like the Danes and trying to accommodate Trump’s impulses.
—Philip Elliott, TIME, 11 Mar. 2025
And his actions to stiff-arm Congress by ignoring laws and funding instructions during his 100-day blitz of executive directives have stoked mistrust among Democrats in both chambers.
—Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 6 Feb. 2025
Daniels mustered an escape with a stiff-arm and lateral burst.
—Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Jan. 2025
Andrew Greif Two stiff-arms and 24 yards later, Philadelphia tight end Dallas Goedert turned a second-and-1 situation into a touchdown for the Eagles.
—NBC News, 13 Jan. 2025
They stiff-arm congressional subpoenas or demands for information with spurious claims of state secrets, executive privilege or unwritten tradition.
—Bruce Fein, Baltimore Sun, 9 Jan. 2025
There was more than a grain of truth to the lament by Pence and company that the Democrats in Washington were stiff-arming comprehensive immigration legislation backed by Republicans and the Trump administration.
—John C. Moritz, Austin American-Statesman, 11 Feb. 2024
Jeff Zrebiec, New York Times, 29 July 2025
There’s probably not a football fan alive who doesn’t love to see a ball carrier use a good stiff-arm to knock a defender to the ground.
—Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 1 Apr. 2025
Canada and Denmark currently offer a striking contrast in playbooks for responding to a suddenly hostile U.S. While Incoming Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is taking a stiff-arm tactic for the moment, others are like the Danes and trying to accommodate Trump’s impulses.
—Philip Elliott, TIME, 11 Mar. 2025
And his actions to stiff-arm Congress by ignoring laws and funding instructions during his 100-day blitz of executive directives have stoked mistrust among Democrats in both chambers.
—Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 6 Feb. 2025
Daniels mustered an escape with a stiff-arm and lateral burst.
—Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Jan. 2025
Andrew Greif Two stiff-arms and 24 yards later, Philadelphia tight end Dallas Goedert turned a second-and-1 situation into a touchdown for the Eagles.
—NBC News, 13 Jan. 2025
They stiff-arm congressional subpoenas or demands for information with spurious claims of state secrets, executive privilege or unwritten tradition.
—Bruce Fein, Baltimore Sun, 9 Jan. 2025
There was more than a grain of truth to the lament by Pence and company that the Democrats in Washington were stiff-arming comprehensive immigration legislation backed by Republicans and the Trump administration.
—John C. Moritz, Austin American-Statesman, 11 Feb. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stiff-arm
Verb
-
They can be used to enforce least privilege, restrict destructive actions, and isolate misconfigured services—all without requiring code changes.—
Tony Bradley,
Forbes.com,
30 July 2025
-
In response, the city's IT systems were shut down on July 28 to isolate the city's infrastructure from potential damage, according to Mayor Melvin Carter.—
Anthony Robledo,
USA Today,
30 July 2025
Verb
-
And for the legions of blue-collar stiffs just like him.—
Donna Vickroy,
Chicago Tribune,
11 July 2025
-
The boar bristles are bendy to move with hair but still stiff enough to detangle knots.—
Olivia Cigliano,
Footwear News,
12 June 2025
Verb
-
Israel has strongly rejected claims that the country is perpetuating a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.—
Savannah Kuchar,
USA Today,
29 July 2025
-
If any other construction would render the clause inoperative, that is an additional reason for rejecting such other construction, and for adhering to the obvious meaning.—
Liz Tracey,
JSTOR Daily,
29 July 2025
Verb
-
This is something that finally repulses Ivor, and that Orla also grapples with.—
Deborah Treisman,
New Yorker,
27 July 2025
-
In Liberia, especially, the Peace Corps volunteers were repulsed by the ways that Americo-Liberians — the descendants of the Black Americans who founded the country — oppressed indigenous ethnic groups.—
Jonathan Zimmerman,
New York Daily News,
16 July 2025
Verb
-
On Thursday, the White House announced that Trump had just sent letters to the heads of 17 major pharmaceutical companies pushing them to cut the prices that Americans have to pay down to the levels that people in other countries pay.—
Bruce Y. Lee,
Forbes.com,
3 Aug. 2025
-
The latter cuts the greasiness and heaviness of the mayo.—
Anne Byrn,
Southern Living,
2 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Fragrant herbs are often planted around vegetables to repel plant pests and attract pollinators to veggie flowers.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
22 July 2025
-
Getting back to the lizards, there are certain scents that can repel lizards.—
Joan Morris,
Mercury News,
21 July 2025
Verb
-
Just this week, The Late Show scored yet another Emmy nomination (even as the TV Academy snubbed late night’s most promising debut in ages: Netflix’s Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney).—
Judy Berman,
Time,
18 July 2025
-
The Hollywood Reporter, The Los Angeles Times and Gold Derby’s picks for nominees for the Outstanding Drama Series are the same as Variety’s predictions, but Variety is predicting that Paradise will earn a nomination in the category and Squid Game will get snubbed.—
Tim Lammers,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
Verb
-
Related article Gay rights icon Harvey Milk’s legacy slighted by decision to rename Navy ship Wald says that waiting to transition can create additional psychological distress for a child and can raise their risk of depression, suicidality, self-harm or substance misuse.—
Jen Christensen,
CNN Money,
18 June 2025
-
Despite Meg’s efforts to connect, Ellen (Kyra Sedgwick) repeatedly slights her future daughter-in-law.—
Natalia Winkelman,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Stiff-arm.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stiff-arm. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share