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
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
Washington’s offense still controlled the ball and clock enough, however, to stiff-arm the Giants’ late push away.
—Pat Leonard, Hartford Courant, 3 Nov. 2024
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
Washington’s offense still controlled the ball and clock enough, however, to stiff-arm the Giants’ late push away.
—Pat Leonard, Hartford Courant, 3 Nov. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stiff-arm
Verb
-
The incident is believed to be isolated and Boodarian is not a suspect in any other burglaries, the sources said.—
Julie Sone,
ABC News,
15 July 2025
-
While some environmental bacteria are known to isolate PFAS, the chemicals' interaction with human gut bacteria has been unclear.—
Jay Kakade
July 12,
New Atlas,
12 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
-
If anyone else tries such commands, the AGI and ASI reject them summarily.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
15 July 2025
-
New York’s 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Maxwell’s appeal effort last year, finding that the deal drawn up in 2007 and approved the following year only protected Epstein and his coconspirators in South Florida.—
Molly Crane-Newman,
New York Daily News,
15 July 2025
Verb
-
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
-
After a disastrous trip to Mexico where Irina appeared repulsed by everything Zack did, the couple split and Zack went crawling back to Bliss.—
Randall Colburn,
EW.com,
13 June 2025
Verb
-
The Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire, Jeannie C. Riley, Connie Smith and the duo of Charlie Louvin and Melba Montgomery were among the acts who cut her songs.—
Marcus K. Dowling,
The Tennessean,
22 July 2025
-
The National Endowment for the Humanities cut the grant this spring.—
Kelly Meyerhofer,
jsonline.com,
22 July 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 31 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share