stolid

From Middle French stolide, from Latin stolidus (“foolish, obtuse, slow”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈstɒl.ɪd/

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈstɑːl.ɪd/
• Rhymes: (UK) -ɒlɪd, (US) -ɑːlɪd

stolid (comparative stolider, superlative stolidest)

1. Having or revealing little emotion or sensibility.

   Synonyms: cold-hearted, unfeeling; see also Thesaurus:alexithymic

   • 1895 October, Stephen Crane, chapter II, in The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War, New York, N.Y.: D Appleton and Company, →OCLC, pages 30–31:

     He went slowly to his tent and stretched himself on a blanket by the side of the snoring tall soldier. In the darkness he saw visions of a thousand-tongued fear that would babble at his back and cause him to flee, while others were going coolly about their country's business. He admitted that he would not be able to cope with this monster. He felt that every nerve in his body would be an ear to hear the voices, while other men would remain stolid and deaf.

   • 1950, Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451:

     With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black.

2. Dully or heavily stupid.

   Synonyms: slow-witted, thickheaded; see also Thesaurus:stupid

   • a. 1887 (date written), Emily Dickinson, “ Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers”, in Mabel Loomis Todd and T W Higginson, editors, Poems, First Series, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1890, →OCLC, page 113:

     Light laughs the breeze / In her Castle above them — / Babbles the Bee in a stolid Ear, / Pipe the Sweet Birds in ignorant cadence — / Ah, what sagacity perished here!

   • 1895 May 7, H G Wells, chapter V, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC:

     They (Eloi) all failed to understand my gestures; some were simply stolid, some thought it was a jest and laughed at me.

   • 2022, Gary Gerstle, chapter 6, in The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order , New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, Part II. The Neoliberal Order, 1970–2020:

     Al Gore, Jr., the Democratic candidate, was Clinton's stolid heir; […]

• stolidly (adverb), stolidness (noun), stolidity (noun)
• stultify

• lotids