Meaning & use
stolidity
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The quality of staying calm and showing little emotion or excitement, especially when others expect a reaction.
Grammar: Uncountable: his stolidity, not a stolidity.
Patterns
- the stolidity of someone
- stolidity in the face of something
Her stolidity in the face of bad news surprised everyone.
He met the dramatic announcement with his usual stolidity.
The villagers' stolidity hid a deep concern about the flood.
noununcountabledisapproving
A dull, slow or unresponsive manner, sometimes suggesting lack of imagination.
Grammar: Often mildly critical in this sense: the stolidity of the committee.
The stolidity of the clerks made every request take an hour.
Critics complained about the stolidity of the film's lead actor.
Common combinations
- stolidity of manner
- His stolidity of manner calmed the children.
- remarkable stolidity
- She showed remarkable stolidity during the emergency.
- with stolidity
- He accepted the criticism with stolidity.
- English stolidity
- The writer joked about English stolidity at the dinner.
- peasant stolidity
- The novel contrasts city nerves with rural stolidity.
Synonyms and how they differ
- impassiveness
- Impassiveness stresses a face that shows nothing, while stolidity suggests a steady, heavy temperament.
- composure
- Composure is positive and suggests control over feelings, whereas stolidity can imply dullness.
- phlegm
- Phlegm is older and suggests calm that hardly reacts at all, while stolidity is more neutral.
- stoicism
- Stoicism is the chosen endurance of hardship, but stolidity is more about a naturally unemotional character.
Opposites
Word family
- stolid adjective
- calm and showing little emotion
- stolidly adverb
- in a calm, unemotional way
- stolidness noun
- another word for stolidity
Commonly confused: stolidity or solidity? stolidity or stoicism?
stolidity vs solidity
Solidity means firmness or strength of structure, not calm temperament.
stolidity vs stoicism
Stoicism is accepting pain or hardship without complaint, while stolidity is not showing emotion in general.
Practice
His ___ in the face of the loud argument made everyone wonder whether he cared at all.
Choose one answer.
Stolidity is calm, unemotional behavior. Solidity is a tempting, similar-looking word but refers to firmness.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “stolidity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.