rigidity

/rɪˈdʒɪdɪɾi/

/rɪˈdʒɪdɪti/

Other forms: rigidities

Rigidity is a quality found in people and objects that don't bend — though they might eventually break.

When we see rigidity in a person, it means they're severe, like a teacher who punishes you for being late even though you were busy saving an orphan from a polar bear. Rigidity means no bending — in that case, of the rules. Objects and substances can have rigidity as well, if they literally won't bend. Rigidity means about the same thing as inflexibility, another word that describes rock-solid, unyielding people and substances.

Definitions of rigidity

1. noun

   the physical property of being stiff and resisting bending
   synonyms: rigidness

   types:

   inflexibility, inflexibleness

   a lack of physical flexibility

   type of:

   inelasticity

   the lack of elasticity
2. noun

   the quality of being rigid and rigorously severe
   synonyms: inflexibility, rigidness

   type of:

   unadaptability

   the inability to change or be changed to fit changed circumstances