stick-in-the-mud

as in conservative
a person with old-fashioned ideas the committee is dominated by old stick-in-the-muds who have little interest in bringing new ideas to the table

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 stick-in-the-mud David Corenswet plays, quite literally, a stick-in-the-mud character. Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019 In the Herbert Ross film, Bacon played big-city teen Ren McCormack, who moves to the small town of Bomont, where its stick-in-the-mud local minster, the Rev. Shaw Moore (John Lithgow), has instituted a ban on dancing. EW.com, 9 Nov. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stick-in-the-mud
Noun
  • The Cato Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank, have mocked the administration for slapping tariffs on islands inhabited only by penguins, while echoing Pence and other conservatives.
    Phillip M. Bailey, USA Today, 5 Apr. 2025
  • Left wing-progressives, once skeptical of the status quo, have become stolid guardians of institutions, while right-wing conservatives – once champions of prudence – are tearing down fences.
    Christian Edwards, CNN Money, 5 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • In 2024, fashion veteran Misti Blasko was hired as CEO of the 99% women-run company to replace Ward.
    Kaleigh Moore, Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025
  • The union represents nurses caring for patients' physical and mental health at veterans facilities around the country.
    Andrea Hsu, NPR, 28 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • These are people who know AI and have grown up with this stuff that these old fogies haven't.
    Alison Snyder, Axios, 23 Feb. 2025
  • And some of us older fogies, Joni Mitchell and Carole King.
    Lars Brandle, Billboard, 10 Oct. 2023
Noun
  • But revisiting fossils in Taiwan’s National Museum of Natural Science may yield riveting clues.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 12 Apr. 2025
  • The space features exhibits focused on the area’s past, from wooly mammoth fossils found in the area to a glimpse into the salt mining industry that brought the region to prominence.
    Caroline Eubanks, Travel + Leisure, 12 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Stick-in-the-mud.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stick-in-the-mud. Accessed 19 Apr. 2025.

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