rigid

Etymology

From Middle English rigide, from Latin rigidus (“stiff”), from rigeō (“I am stiff”). Compare rigor. Merged with Middle English rigged, rygged, rugged (“upright like a spine, rigid”, literally “ridged”), from ridge +‎ -ed.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪd͡ʒ.ɪd/
• Rhymes: -ɪdʒɪd

Adjective

rigid (comparative rigider or more rigid, superlative rigidest or most rigid)

1. Stiff, rather than flexible.

   Synonyms: inflexible; see also Thesaurus:stiff

   Antonyms: flexible; see also Thesaurus:flexible

2. Having inflexible thoughts, opinions, or beliefs.
3. Fixed, rather than moving.

   Synonyms: static, stuck, unmovable; see also Thesaurus:immobile

   Antonyms: moving; see also Thesaurus:movable

   • 2011, David Foster Wallace, The Pale King, Penguin Books, page 5:

     A sunflower, four more, one bowed, and horses in the distance standing rigid and still as toys.

4. Rigorous and unbending.
5. Uncompromising.

   Synonyms: staunch, unyielding; see also Thesaurus:obstinate

   Antonyms: compromising, transigent

Noun

rigid (plural rigids)

English Wikipedia has an article on:

rigid airship

Wikipedia

1. (aviation) 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.

References

• “rigid”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “rigid”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

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