rigid

The definition of rigid is a person or thing that is stiff, doesn't bend or doesn't move.

(adjective)

  1. An example of rigid is a thick metal pole.
  2. An example of rigid is someone who will only take showers at night.

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See rigid in Webster's New World College Dictionary

adjective

  1. not bending or flexible; stiff and hard: a rigid metal girder
  2. not moving; set
  3. severe; strict; exacting: a rigid taskmaster
    1. not deviating; rigorous: rigid regulations
    2. precise; exact: rigid specifications
  4. Aeron. having a rigid framework that encloses containers for the gas: said of an airship

Origin: L rigidus < rigere, to be stiff, numb < IE base *(s)rig-, cold > frigid

Related Forms:

See rigid in American Heritage Dictionary 4

adjective
  1. Not flexible or pliant; stiff.
  2. Not moving; fixed.
  3. Marked by a lack of flexibility; rigorous and exacting: “We have watered down a rigid training . . . until we now have an educational diet in many of our public high schools that nourishes neither the classes nor the masses” (Agnes Meyer).
  4. Scrupulously maintained or performed: rigid discipline. See Synonyms at stiff.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English rigide

Origin: , from Latin rigidus

Origin: , from rigēre, to be stiff; see reig- in Indo-European roots

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Related Forms:

  • rigˈid·ly adverb
  • rigˈid·ness noun

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