Rigidness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being stiff or inflexible is termed as a lack of adaptability in both physical and metaphorical contexts
2. A state characterized by firmness and an unwillingness to change, often leading to resistance in various situations
3. The condition in which objects or ideas maintain a strict and unyielding form, limiting their ability to adjust or bend

Etymology: "Rigidness" is simply "rigid" with the suffix "-ness" attached. "Rigid" came into English from Latin "rigidus," meaning stiff or unbending, which itself grew from "rigere," to be stiff, and that verb is the source of the earlier English sense "rigid" carried: hardened, not bending. The Latin ancestor of this family also gave English "rigor," which kept the sense of stiffness in the body. The suffix "-ness" is the older, native part. It goes back to Old English "-nes," which turned an adjective into a noun naming the quality it describes. So "rigidness" literally means "the quality of being rigid," the state of being stiff. Speakers could form such nouns from almost any adjective, and "rigidness" is one of many such formations. The two parts meet a little awkwardly: "rigid" was borrowed whole from Latin, while "-ness" is inherited from the Germanic roots of English. Both English word-building traditions combined here, producing a word that sounds more like everyday speech than either piece on its own.

Synonyms: stiffness, inflexibility, firmness, strictness, hardness

Antonyms: flexibility, softness, yielding, adaptability, pliability