rigidify
Cause to harden
To rigidify is to make or become rigid—stiff, inflexible, or unyielding.
The word appears in technical and academic contexts: The polymer rigidifies when cooled.
Figuratively, systems or thinking can rigidify: Bureaucracies tend to rigidify over time.
The noun form is rigidification.
State of mind
- annealHeat-treat to strengthen
- cureTreatment that heals
- setArrange in position
- crystallizeForm into ordered structure
calcify · petrify · indurate · congeal · harden · toughen · ossify · vulcanize
Organize into formal rules
- institutionalizeEstablish as norm
- systematizeArrange into ordered structure
- standardizeMake things match norms
- bureaucratizeMake administratively complex
regiment · regulate · constrain · structure · entrench · enshrine · establish · formalize
Make stronger against threat
- consolidateUnite separate things
- strengthenMake more robust
- bolsterStrengthen or buttress
- buttressArchitectural wall reinforcement
support · cement · brace · shore · undergird · stabilize · anchor · secure
Become solid from cold
- anchorSecures ships to seabed
- fixateFocus obsessively on
- bindFasten or obligate
- clampDevice for holding tight
fasten · secure · lock · pinion · shackle · strap · truss · brace
Stretched under tension
contract · brace · starch · clench · flex · strain · tauten · starched
Asserting opinions as facts
- intransigentRefusing to compromise
- obstinateFirmly refusing to yield
- unyieldingRefusing to give way
- adamantStubbornly refusing to yield
implacable · unbending · uncompromising · unrelenting · intractable · unswerving · immutable · inelastic
temper
State of mind
crystallize · calcify · petrify · indurate · congeal · harden · toughen · ossify · vulcanize · fossilize
codify
Organize into formal rules
- institutionalizeEstablish as norm
- systematizeArrange into ordered structure
- standardizeMake things match norms
bureaucratize · regiment · regulate · constrain · structure · entrench · enshrine · establish · formalize · routinize
fortify
Make stronger against threat
- consolidateUnite separate things
- strengthenMake more robust
- bolsterStrengthen or buttress
buttress · support · cement · brace · shore · undergird · stabilize · anchor · secure · firm
freeze
Become solid from cold
clamp · fasten · secure · lock · pinion · shackle · strap · truss · brace · root
taut
Stretched under tension
constrict · contract · brace · starch · clench · flex · strain · tauten · starched · crisp
dogmatic
Asserting opinions as facts
- intransigentRefusing to compromise
- obstinateFirmly refusing to yield
- unyieldingRefusing to give way
adamant · implacable · unbending · uncompromising · unrelenting · intractable · unswerving · immutable · inelastic · fixed
rigidifyloosen
Reduce tension or grip
relax · liberalize · deregulate · ease · slacken
rigidifyrelax
Become less tense
loosen · uncompress · decompress · slacken · release
- moral rigidityUnwavering ethical strictness