Meaning & use
stuffy
Last updated
Lacking fresh air and feeling uncomfortably warm or close, or overly formal and old-fashioned in manner.
See it in a sentence
The stuffy classroom made it hard for students to concentrate.
His stuffy uncle disapproved of anyone who didn't wear a tie to dinner.
A note on using this word
Has two common meanings: describing a physically poorly ventilated room, or a person's excessively formal, humorless personality.
Words with a similar meaning
airlessstodgy
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
airycasual
Another way to use it
2. adjective
Excessively formal, conventional, or old-fashioned in manner.
The club had a reputation for being stuffy and resistant to new members.
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