rigid
adjectivenounattested in dialogue
- Australia//ˈɹɪd͡ʒ.ɪd//
- New Zealand//ˈɹəd͡ʒ.əd//
Stiff, rather than flexible.
adjective
- 1
Stiff, rather than flexible.
- 2
Having inflexible thoughts, opinions, or beliefs.
- 3
Fixed, rather than moving.
A sunflower, four more, one bowed, and horses in the distance standing rigid and still as toys.
- 4
Rigorous and unbending.
- 5
Uncompromising.
Despite arguments to the contrary, she remained rigid in her stand.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *Hreyǵ-der. Proto-Italic *rigēō Latin rigeō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin rigidusder. Middle English rigide English rigid From Middle English rigide, from Latin rigidus (“stiff”), from rigeō (“to be stiff”). Compare rigor. Merged with Middle English rigged, rygged, rugged (“upright like a spine, rigid”, literally “ridged”), from ridge + -ed.
noun
- 1
An airship whose shape is maintained solely by an internal and/or external rigid structural framework, without using internal gas pressure to stiffen the vehicle (the lifting gas is at atmospheric pressure); typically also equipped with multiple redundant gasbags, unlike other types of airship.
The rigid could reach the greatest sizes and speeds of any airship, but was expensive to build and bulky to store. Rigids fell out of favor after the R101 and Hindenburg disasters made the type seem unsafe to the travelling public.
- 2
A bicycle with no suspension system.
Forms
- plural
- rigids
- comparative
- rigider, more rigid
- superlative
- rigidest, most rigid