stiffness

noun

Etymology: From Middle English stiffenes, styffenesse, styfnesse; equivalent to stiff + -ness. Perhaps merging with Middle English stithnesse, stithnysse, from Old English stīþness (“stiffness”).

1. Rigidity or a measure of rigidity.
2. Inflexibility or a measure of inflexibility.
3. Inelegance; a lack of relaxedness.

   “His stiffness hampered the conversation.”

   “Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.”

4. Muscular tension due to unaccustomed or excessive exercise or work; soreness.

   “Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), often referred to by doctors today as juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), is a type of arthritis that causes joint inflammation and stiffness for more than six weeks in a child aged 16 or younger. It affects approximately 50,000 children in the United States. Inflammation causes redness, swelling, warmth, and soreness in the joints, although many children with JRA do not complain of joint pain.”