Log in or Sign up
  1. stolid love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; impassive: "the incredibly massive and stolid bureaucracy of the Soviet system” ( John Kenneth Galbraith).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Heavy; dull; stupid; not easily moved; lacking in or destitute of susceptibility; denoting dullness or impassiveness: as, a stolid person; a stolid appearance.
  2. Synonyms Doltish, wooden.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Having or revealing little emotion or sensibility.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Hopelessly insensible or stupid; not easily aroused or excited; dull; impassive; foolish.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily aroused or excited

Etymologies

  1. From Latin stolidus ("foolish, obtuse, slow"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin stolidus, stupid; see stel- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “As Jess untied the Queen and helped her down, she saw Brian working hard to keep his expression stolid, to maintain the professional unseeing look all the guardsmen had long perfected.”

    Simon & Schuster: Zombies vs. Unicorns

  • “From the label a stolid farmer smiled at her, the image as outdated as the 1950s Betty Crocker.”

    Simon & Schuster: A Lincoln Rhyme eBook Boxed Set

  • “Joe asked, his expression stolid, only his eyes showing his nervous tension as he continually glanced from side to side, making certain nothing could creep up on them.”

    Chrome Circle

  • “She stared at him in stolid wonder, but her only reply was to hold the door wider and say: "Come in an 'set wun't ye?”

    The Mystery at Number Six

  • “But though young, I was neither nervous nor imaginative; I was inclined to be what is termed stolid, that is to say, extremely matter-of-fact and practical.”

    Scottish Ghost Stories

  • “As she stood there in stolid embarrassment polishing the shiny bar, Miss Levering clutched the tray to steady it, and with the other hand she pulled the pillow higher.”

    The Convert

  • “She swallowed bile and willed the pill to dissolve faster, sneaking a glance at her fellow commanding officers, all arrayed around the readout in stolid contemplation. “Looks like the blast points were precise, ” one of the men observed, pointing out charred circles on the readout with his stylus. “They maximized human casualties rather than structural damage. ” “That makes sense, ” a blue-eyed woman replied. “That†™ s one of the few plants that isn†™ t automated.”

    365 tomorrows » J. Loseth : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day

  • “ Joe asked, his expression stolid, only his eyes showing his nervous tension as he continually glanced from side to side, making certain nothing could creep up on them.”

    The Chrome Borne

  • “Ned had come to call the stolid German servant, was not present.”

    Tom Swift and His Giant Cannon, or, the Longest Shots on Record

  • “The word literally means coarse or thick, and may suggest the idea of stolid insensibility as the last stage in the downward progress.”

    Expositions of Holy Scripture Second Kings Chapters VIII to End and Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Esther, Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘stolid’.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • bilby
    Stiff in midsummer green, the stolid hillsides
    March with their trees, dependable and stanch,
    Except where here and there a lawless maple
    Thrusts to the sky one red, rebellious branch.

    - Louis Untermeyer, 'Rebels'. Sep 21, 2009

  • Prolagus While stolido, in Italian, means idiot. Sep 9, 2008

  • oroboros See Bed. Jul 21, 2007

  • slumry a word that looks like its meaning, in my opinion Jul 20, 2007

Tweets

Looking for tweets for stolid.

‘stolid’ has been looked up 7240 times, loved by 16 people, added to 91 lists, commented on 4 times, and has a Scrabble score of 7.