different between starched vs stilted

English

Verb

starched

1. simple past tense and past participle of starch

Adjective

starched (comparative more starched, superlative most starched)

1. Of a garment: having had starch applied.
2. Stiff, formal, rigid; prim and proper.
   • 1712, Jonathan Swift, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, Dublin: George Faulkner, 1751, Volume 1, pp. 102-103,^[1]

     Does the Gospel any where prescribe a starched squeezed Countenance, a stiff formal Gait, a Singularity of Manners and Habit, or any affected Modes of Speech, different from the reasonable Part of Mankind?

   • 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, London: J. Johnson, Part 1, Chapter 5, Section 3, pp. 217-218,^[2]

     A cultivated understanding, and an affectionate heart, will never want starched rules of decorum—something more substantial than seemliness will be the result; and, without understanding the behaviour here recommended, would be rank affectation.

   • 1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy, Volume 2, Chapter 8,^[3]

     I was not a little startled at recognising in his companions that very Morris on whose account I had been summoned before Justice Inglewood, and Mr. MacVittie the merchant, from whose starched and severe aspect I had recoiled on the preceding day.

   • 1961, Bernard Malamud, A New Life, Penguin, 1968, p. 107,^[4]

     ‘ […] CD is a fair-enough scholar but starched like my grand-daddy’s collar.’

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:starched.

Anagrams

• cartshed, destarch, herd cats

English

Etymology

From stilt +? -ed.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?st?lt?d/
• Hyphenation: stilt?ed

Adjective

stilted (comparative more stilted, superlative most stilted)

1. Making use of or possessing a stilt or stilts, or things resembling stilts; raised on stilts.

   Antonym: unstilted
2. (figuratively) Elevated or raised in a contrived or unnatural way; stiff and artificially formal or pompous; also, depending on redundant, unnecessary elements.

   Antonyms: natural, unstilted
3. (architecture) Of a building or architectural feature such as an arch or vault: supported by stilts (“supporting pillars or posts”); also (generally) having the main part raised above the usual level by some structure.

   Antonym: unstilted

Derived terms

• stilted arch
• stiltedly
• stiltedness
• unstilted

Translations

Verb

stilted

1. simple past tense and past participle of stilt

References

Anagrams

• slitted