rigidity

CIDE DICTIONARY

rigidity, n. [L. rigiditas: cf. F. rigidité. See Rigid.].

•  The quality or state of being rigid; want of pliability; the quality of resisting change of form; the amount of resistance with which a body opposes change of form; -- opposed to flexibility, ductility, malleability, and softness.  [1913 Webster]
•  Stiffness of appearance or manner; want of ease or elegance.  Sir H. Wotton.  [1913 Webster]
•  Severity; rigor.  Bp. Burnet.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Stiffness; rigidness; inflexibility.

THESAURUS

rigidity

abidingness, absoluteness, accuracy, adamantness, attention to fact, care for truth, changelessness, concentration, constancy, correctness, delicacy, dourness, durability, durableness, duration, endurance, exactitude, exactness, faithfulness, faultlessness, fidelity, fineness, firmness, firmness of mind, fixedness, flawlessness, flintiness, frozenness, fundamentalism, grimness, hard-bittenness, hard-nosedness, hardening, hardness, immobility, immobilization, immovability, immovableness, immutability, implacability, impliability, inelasticity, inertia, inexorability, inextricability, inflexibility, intransigeance, intransigence, intransigency, intransigentism, invariability, invariableness, inveteracy, irreconcilability, irremovability, lastingness, literalism, literality, literalness, long standing, loyalty, mathematical precision, meticulousness, niceness, nicety, obduracy, obdurateness, obstinacy, orthodoxy, perfection, permanence, permanency, perpetualness, persistence, persistency, preciseness, precisianism, precision, purism, puritanism, quiescence, refinement, relentlessness, renitence, renitency, right, rightness, rigidness, rigor, rigorism, rigorousness, settledness, severity, solidity, stability, standing, starchiness, stasis, staunchness, steadfastness, steadiness, steeliness, sternness, stiff temper, stiffness, strictness, stubbornness, subtlety, tautness, tenseness, tension, tensity, textualism, the letter, tightness, torpor, toughness, trueness, unalterability, unbendingness, unchangeability, unchangingness, uncompromisingness, ungivingness, unmovability, unrelentingness, unyieldingness, vis inertiae

ROGET THESAURUS

rigidity

Hardness

N hardness, rigidity, renitence, renitency, inflexibility, temper, callosity, durity, induration, petrifaction, lapidification, lapidescence, vitrification, ossification, crystallization, stone, pebble, flint, marble, rock, fossil, crag, crystal, quartz, granite, adamant, bone, cartilage, hardware, heart of oak, block, board, deal board, iron, steel, cast iron, decarbonized iron, wrought iron, nail, brick, concrete, cement, hard, rigid, stubborn, stiff, firm, starch, starched, stark, unbending, unlimber, unyielding, inflexible, tense, indurate, indurated, gritty, proof, adamant, adamantine, adamantean, concrete, stony, granitic, calculous, lithic, vitreous, horny, corneous, bony, osseous, ossific, cartilaginous, hard as a rock, stiff as buckram, stiff as a poker, stiff as starch, stiff as as board.